Sometimes
by Sokorra Lewis
Summary: After the war with Voldemort, Hermione finds herself involved with another war, one more personal and one that could break her more then Voldemort ever could. NOW CONTINUED!
1. Sometimes

Chapter One

Sometimes, when Hermione couldn't take it anymore, she went to him. It wasn't because she needed him, or that she loved him. There was nothing emotional in their relationship. Not on his side anyway. Or hers, she always reassured herself. It was just release from the pain of war. It was a place to finally get in her rebellious years and sleep with the man no one would approve of.

Oh, how she fooled herself

She went to him every night, needing his touch to take away the feeling of blood washing over her body. One would think that a war with magic would be a lot less bloody then a real one but hexes and curses caused pain and blood loss as well as death and disfigurement. She needed to feel his body next to hers to feel that she was still alive, still able to feel emotions pouring through her body.

There was no rebellion. Harry and Ron didn't know, but never hated him. His best friend and cousin, yes, but never him. They would have been happy to know that she had found someone during the time of War to help her get though it.

Ron would say it was about time. He was always worried about her. Once it had been a romantic interest but now it was the concern of a friend who was a brother to her and cared for her. He would like the man whose body lay beside hers simply for making Hermione forget that there was a war going on during those hours at night.

Harry would be skeptical at first, but would slowly warm up to the idea. He would welcome his former classmate into the family they had created and would like him because he made her smile again.

She turned to face him on the bed. He had been tired that night and was asleep. Her eyes trailed over his body. His black curls fell against his forehead, almost to his eyes, which when open would be a fiery blue. She had always loved his eyes.

His skin was darker than hers, but because of his Mediterranean heritage and not because of a tan. He was toned and healthy so she could see his muscles. His left arm lay underneath his head while his right lay over her waist. He looked so innocent when he was asleep. Not at all like the ruthless army commander he was during the day.

She sighed and stared at the ceiling. She wished it weren't so hard. She had to stop this. She knew as well as everyone else that her chance of surviving this war lessened each day it lasted and she didn't want to die and leave him behind to pick up the pieces. She didn't want to find out one day that she was a lover left behind. She would die if that happened.

She hated the fact that every day she came closer to the realization that she loved him and wished almost reverently that he would tell her he felt that way about her. She could imagine years together with this man, yet neither had made the move to make this arrangement permanent. She had to quit before someone got hurt or it lost its passion.

She snorted softly. "Losing its passion". That wasn't bloody likely given the way they acted when they saw each other alone. It wasn't just lust either. There were nights when they would just lie beside each other – silent, holding on for dear life knowing that the morning would bring more fighting, more dying, more crying, and more disillusionment.

The boys were lucky. Nicole and Kelly were not fighters so Harry and Ron only had to worry about not returning home to their wives. Nicole led the journalistic movement while Kelly used her American contacts to get around the blocks the Death Eaters created. They helped the way they could, but never had to worry about whether or not they had to die the next day.

She did. He was fighting more then she was. She was more of a planner, while he acted on the plans. He was a planner too, but ever since his best friend had died, he had been ruthless in trying to stop Voldemort. He had this crazy feeling that he had to fight out there. He could die at any moment and he didn't care. He did this for a man and women who died too young to have realized their potential – because of a man who hated himself so much he directed the hate to people like him. A magical Hitler.

He had a death wish, but she tried to ignore it. She didn't want to think about the fact that sometimes he just wanted to die. His best friend was as good as dead, as was the best friend's wife. His parents had died the year before and his younger brother had been killed because he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no family left.

No, she thought, that wasn't exactly true. He had her, even though neither would admit it. And he had Becky. He didn't know about her yet, and honestly Hermione wasn't completely sure wither it was a Becky or a Brent. She hoped it was a girl. She could just imagine their baby girl, with his hair and eyes, their combined intellect, her face. She would be perfect and Hermione needed to last at least another four months to meet this perfect angel. She was using charms at the moment to hide her pregnancy, but she knew she would have to tell him sooner or later.

Would that change anything? Would he be less reckless with his life, less likely to go out and fight? Chances were he would fight harder, if only to ensure that his child could go to school without the threat of a madman coming after her. He loved kids, but had never told her anything about having them. She had seen how much his face lit up when he visited the orphanage in Hogsmeade with her once a month. Perhaps it was because those children reminded him of his brother, only three when life was cruelly taken from him.

"Hermione, you're thinking. It's too late to think. You're making MY head hurt," he mumbled as he pulled her closer to him, holding her tight. She could feel the cold metal of his family signet ring on her arm, only slightly warmed by his skin.

"Go back to sleep."

"Trying. Couldn't stay up if I wanted to. No coffee."

She smiled and sighed as she allowed his natural body heat to warm her up, suddenly feeling the cold in the room. Maybe she would never admit out loud that she was crazy for this man, but she would never be able to leave him.

The worst thing of all was the realization right before complete unconsciousness. She was bloody in love with Blaise Zabini and nothing she could say or do would change her heart's decision on the matter.

She could only hope he felt the same way.


	2. To Protect The Ones He Loves

Chapter Two:

He awoke with a silent scream, the images of his nightmare still flying across the back of his eyes. He couldn't get away from the visions. He looked to the right quickly to make sure she was still asleep. He didn't want to bother her with these dreams and if he woke her she would ask until she found out. That was just her way.

Running a hand though his black hair, he got out of bed, careful not to wake her. He walked silently out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. He took a coffee drink she had bought him out of the refrigerator and sat down at the table. He closed his eyes and took some more relaxing breaths, while he listened to the clack of his ring against the plastic of the drink container.

The dreams were getting worse. He had been having them for weeks. He knew exactly why. It was psychological warfare against him from Voldemort. The Dark Lord was systematically trying to take away the support team of the boy-who-lived. He had already put Ginny and Draco in a Sleeping Death. It made sense that Voldemort would try him next; through him he got Hermione.

It was not public knowledge that Blaise Zabini and Hermione Granger lived together. In fact it wasn't known to many besides the two of them. But Voldemort had managed to get inside Blaise's head, so Blaise had no doubt that the evil man knew of his feelings for Hermione. He wouldn't lie and say that his feelings hadn't been a surprise to himself. He had originally thought that it was going to be one of those war romances that were just for comfort and not for futures, but he knew that he had long since stepped into the area where he wanted it to be forever. He loved her, but didn't know how to tell her about them and whether or not she reciprocated.

Blaise stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked the small park near the flat. Hermione didn't really know his feelings yet and now Voldemort was going to use them against her. He wasn't going to let another person get hurt because of him. He had already lost Draco to the sleeping death and his cousin Marcus to Voldemort's paranoia.

The dreams involved her now and he couldn't stand what he saw. At first it was a happy scene, sometime in the future. They were together and smiling and Hermione was holding their child while other children played around them and friends laughed with them. She was wearing the emerald and jade ring that had been in his family for generations that was now hidden in his nightstand for the opportune moment. It never seemed to come.

The dream started to go downhill fast. First Draco, who was telling stories about his wedding to Ginny, started to deteriorate. It was slow and gruesome, one layer at a time till all was left was a skull and then it started to burn. Then it proceeded over to Ginny. It started in mid laugh and the laugh got colder and suddenly her hair lit on fire and her eyes got a blood red. Her flesh slowly dissolved and what was left was her skeleton with blood eyes and flaming hair.

And then it got to Hermione. With Hermione it started with blood dripping down from her eyes like tears. She spoke to him, telling him that he was guilty for all that he saw. He was at fault for Draco and Ginevra Malfoy being in a coma, he was responsible for the death of her parents, and for Marcus Flint and Charlie Weasley.

Blaise knew it was Voldemort, but he couldn't help but slide into the role of the guilty party. Part of him always felt it was his fault. He wasn't fast enough, he wasn't good enough, and he couldn't save them. It tore at him emotionally and mentally, but he never told her. He didn't want her to worry about it.

"Blaise?" He looked up to see Hermione standing in the archway between the kitchen and the living room; the moonlight shining on her slightly disheveled form. She was beautiful and he couldn't stand to lose her. He loved her and didn't want anything to hurt her. If only he had the power to protect her from everything.

"'Mione." He looked back down. He didn't want her to see what emotions were flowing though him at the moment; she could always tell what he was thinking from what was in his blue eyes. However, she had seen enough to know that something was troubling him. She walked around the table and hugged him. He turned in his seat, wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her stomach. Then, he stood up and pulled her into a tighter hug.

"What's wrong?" Blaise shook his head, but she had already seen the tears. She always knew what was going on that he wouldn't tell her, it seemed. He remained quiet for a while, holding her tight. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him and no one was going to hurt her if he had anything to do with it.

He let her go and allowed her to lead him back to their bedroom. She pushed him onto the bed and then wrapped her arms around him. He could tell she knew something was wrong but she could also tell he didn't want to talk about it. It was nice having someone whom knew you so completely they didn't need to ask to know exactly how to act.

"I think I should leave."

"Why?"

"He'll use me to hurt you and I don't want that." There was no need to ask who "he" was, Hermione already knew.

"I'll fight it."

"I know you will." She moved so she could look down at him. Hermione Granger never lost the fights she picked, and this was not going to be an exception.

"I am not going to let that bastard break my family apart. I'm not going to let you leave me with the excuse "to save me". If you're going to leave me it is going to be because you either don't like me or you have fallen in love with someone else. I've already lost my parents to him. I am NOT going to lose you too." Blaise looked at her for a second. He always had a hard time lying to her. With everyone else, he could tell a lie no problem, but one look into her eyes and he was compelled to tell the truth. Sitting up he moved Hermione so she was sitting on his lap, knees on either side of his waist and his hands on her hips.

"I love you Hermione, you know that."

Hermione's eyes got softer at his admission and she smiled slightly. "Promise me you'll never leave."

Blaise sighed and leaned his head against her shoulder." You know I can't do that. I can promise you it won't be because I don't love you or because there is someone else, as you're too perfect to be replaced, but I can't promise I won't leave. I won't be used to hurt you and I know that is what he is planning to do. But for now I will stay." Hermione smiled sadly and seemed to accept that for now. She kissed him and he leaned back so they were lying down on the bed. Blaise held her in his arms until he was certain she was asleep again.

He slowly got out of the bed and gathered some clothes together. After writing a short note to Hermione, Blaise left the house to go to an apparition point. Hermione would have to lose this fight if they wanted any hope of being together later. He hoped she realized that he really did mean what he said. He just didn't want her or the baby hurt and this was the only way he knew to protect them


	3. The World is Blown Away

Chapter 3

"I really should kill you right now, you know." Blaise didn't have to move his arm off his eyes to know who was speaking. It was Ron Weasley, on whose couch Blaise was currently laying on as he attempted to recover from the slight headache that had come to him earlier in the morning. Despite promising his wife that he would be nice, Ron sat in the chair opposite Blaise and glared at the man who was his best friend's boyfriend. Apparently Kelly had more sympathy for the man than Ron did. At the moment, Ron had none.

The man had hurt his Hermione and lived to tell about it, which was just not right in his mind. Zabini should be bleeding heavily for his crimes against her, but Kelly had made him promise there would be no bloodshed. What he wouldn't do for his wife.

"Ron, if you're going to kill me, then do it please. I don't like the pre-death-by-redhead talk." Ron looked annoyed. Why was it that everyone thought his temper was a direct correlation with his hair color? After all Ginny was...Ron stopped that trained of thought before he started to tear up again and that would really mess with his Lets-Kill-'Mione's-Boyfriend plan.

"Why did you do it? What happened to 'Ron, I want to marry 'Mione'?" About a month ago, Blaise had come up to Ron and Harry to ask them if he could marry Hermione. It was tradition to ask the father of the bride for her hand, but that was impossible since her father had died a year previous so Blaise had opted for the closest thing to family she had left, Ron and Harry.

That was how they had found out about Hermione even dating the Slytherin. Ron was seriously thinking he had made the wrong choice when he had chosen to trust Zabini.

"It's Hermione. She hates that nickname." Ron rolled his eyes. He knew Blaise called her that all the time. He was just avoiding the question.

"Answer my question."

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"That would be nice."

"Voldemort has managed to get inside my head. I left because his recent 'gifts' have been centering on Hermione. I think he is planning on using me to hurt her so she can't help Harry. With her as the brain of the group, that would be an easy way to cripple him. I didn't want to be used as a tool to get to Hermione, so I left and came here. I figure if I am going to go insane and kill someone, better it be you."

"Why thank you, Zabini. Didn't know you cared so much," Ron drawled sarcastically.

"But then again, I do like Kelly..."

"Touch my wife and I won't be the one worrying about death." Blaise actually laughed at that one. It wasn't a completely heartfelt laugh but it was one none-the-less. "What makes you think the dreams mean he is going to use you to hurt her? Perhaps it is Montague or Warrington."

"They are too busy doing other missions and spying for us to be near Hermione. I am the closest to her, besides you and Harry. In the dreams she blames me for putting Draco and Ginny in their death-like coma. Then she starts to bleed and slowly burn away, blaming me for hurting her and our child."

"You two don't have kids yet. Obviously Voldemort doesn't do his homework."

"That's just it, Weasley," Blaise stated as he removed his arm from his eyes and looked at his fellow commander. "Hermione's pregnant."

"And she didn't tell me!"

"She hasn't told anyone, not even me, yet

"Then how do you know?" Blaise gave him a look.

"I've been living with her for three years, almost four now. I think I would notice some physical changes. She must be at least five months along. The only reason most people don't know is because she is using a glamour charm." He decided not to share the fact that he wished she trusted him enough to tell him. It had hurt him that she hadn't said anything yet, but he ignored that feeling as best he could.

"Are you sure he is planning on using you and not just trying to drive you and Hermione apart?"

* * *

Hermione smiled sadly down at the red-haired woman in the hospital bed. Ginny's skin was pale against the brilliant burgundy of her hair, and her brown eyes were closed in a deathlike appearance. She had been placed under one of the newest curses brought on by the cruelties of the war. The Sleeping Death put one in a coma so close to death that it was often confused for it. There were only two other cases of the curse being used since its creation by Lucius Malfoy three years ago. Dean Thomas and Justin Flinch-Fletchly had also been placed under the curse, only to die eventually. If it hadn't been for Blaise, the two who lay in the comfortable room would have been given up for dead as well.

However, she had come to visit Ginevra Malfoy and her husband and not to think about her boyfriend (or whatever they were, or used to be).

Malfoy lay motionless in an identical bed, his hair longer than usual, but well taken care of. His skin was microscopically darker than his wife's complexion, but he still had the pallor of death. He looked quite solemn. Once again, Hermione had to remind herself that he was still alive. There was one thing to be said about Malfoy. Even when near death, he was graceful and almost haughty about it. And to think it was his own father who had invented the curse that now condemned his son to death.

She returned to Ginny and sighed. The girl was barely 22 years old, only married for two years. It had been only a few months ago that she had ecstatically announced that she was going to have a baby to a yard full of friends and family. Hermione wished Ginny were awake, as she knew the younger girl would know what one should do when one had a pig-headed Slytherin boyfriend. And perhaps the two would discuss how their two children would grow up together, no doubt be Slytherin like their fathers and worry them half to death. But Ginny was asleep, unable to hear anything Hermione said in her rants or offer advice on how to deal with Blaise. For that matter, no one knew if the baby would survive this curse or be able to be born if it did.

Hermione walked to the window next to Malfoy's bed and looked out over the lake that was in the Malfoy Manor garden. Blaise and made sure that both Draco and Ginny had received the very best care. After all, Blaise and Draco were practically brothers, especially after other Slytherins had rejected them when they had come out and stated their beliefs on the war. That made Ginny family too.

So many people had been lost to them in this war against Voldemort in the last five years since they had left Hogwarts. Her parents, Narcissa Malfoy, Arienne Zabini and her latest husband Adriano, Dean and Justin were just a few of the many victims of the violence. Harry's uncle had been killed and now his Aunt Petunia and Dudley were hiding with Remus Lupin as their protector and only link to the outside world. Sirius Black's girlfriend from before Azkaban, Alana Burkhurst, was a secondary protection for the aunt of the Boy Who Lived. Ron was lucky and had only lost his brother Charlie, but his wife Kelly had been one of the first people who had seen first hand what Death Eaters could do. She was the only survivor of an attack on her home in London, having only been thirteen at the time and only two years younger than her husband.

She hoped the war would end soon and the endless death would cease. She wanted her life back. She wanted peace for her child and for her friends' families. She wanted everyone to be safe, with no more bloodshed. She wanted Blaise to come home and realize that it was leaving her that hurt her. She wanted Ginny and even Malfoy to have peace.

She just wanted an end.

* * *

Kelly opened the door later that evening to find Hermione standing there. Surprised, she opened it farther to let her friend in.

"Hermione, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but you don't visit that often."

"I heard Blaise is here. Can I talk to him?"

"Sure, hon." Kelly smiled. "Just let me get Ron out of the living room and you can have it out with Blaise."

Hermione followed Kelly to the living room of the Weasley's home and saw Ron sitting in the chair opposite the couch. Blaise was lying on the couch, with one arm casually flung over his eyes and his body tense. She could tell he was sorting various things though his brain. She smiled weakly. During this war, she was learning how to interrupt those closest to her simply from their body language. Harry and Ron had been with her for over a decade and Blaise for almost six years, but she knew Blaise just as well.

Ron walked out of the room and squeezed Hermione's shoulder as he passed to join his wife in the kitchen. She took a deep breath before taking a few steps forward into the room. At first she just stared at him, feeling oddly more calm having him around. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to help her any.

"I thought you weren't going to leave. You promised you weren't going to leave me." Hermione wanted to slap herself. She was sounding desperate. That was not how she was supposed to sound.

"I promised that I wasn't leaving you out of lack of love for you or because of any other person."

"Then why did you leave? Tell the truth Blaise." He took his hand off his eyes and looked at her. She could tell he was tired of arguing with her, but she was not going to back down.

"I have! I left you to protect you from Voldemort."

"Really? It seems more like you were running to protect yourself from Voldemort. Things don't revolve around you, Blaise. He would have come after me whether you had been there or not. I don't see how you leaving will help me any. Besides, that means you did break your promise."

"He was going to use ME to hurt YOU!" He obviously wasn't going to pay any attention to her calling Voldemort a person.

"Really? Well he has succeeded since you have most definitely hurt me. You hurt me by leaving, by breaking your promise to stay. How could he use you anyway? What makes you think he deems you important enough? Just because you happen to be my lover for three years? I seriously doubt it." Blaise stood up and looked down at her. She didn't back down and stared right back into his molten blue eyes. She applauded herself for not backing down. Blaise could be intimidating even when he wasn't trying to be.

"Do you want to know the real reason? The full version of why I had to leave? He was messing with my head, Granger, messing around and driving me crazy. He was giving me visions of you, of Draco and Ginny, and of our baby girl, all being hurt because of ME. I could see you Hermione; you were bleeding and blaming me for it. I couldn't let him drive me crazy enough to physically hurt you. I love you too bloody much to let that happen." He walked around her and grabbed his coat off the couch. "And Voldemort is not a person, not anymore." He walked out the door and past a confused Kelly Weasley.

Hermione noticed she was crying, although she hadn't meant to. He had known about the baby. Had he left her because she was pregnant? She did not have much time to think about it, however, as a sharp pain went though her midsection, taking all thoughts of Blaise away.


	4. Arienne and Lies

Chapter Four:

Hermione lay on the hospital bed, curled into a ball. There were tears falling down her eyes. She tried not to think of what the silence meant. It could mean a million of things, things she didn't want to think of.

She had been rushed to the hospital by Ron and Kelly after that first burst of pain. Kelly had insisted that they took her to St. Mungos in case something was wrong with the baby. She knew women there who worked with both muggle and magical techniques and felt that were the best they could offer. Natalie Finnegan, the wife of Seamus, had luckily been free and had insisted that Hermione get a room immediately.

She had been given a muggle medication that had taken care of the pain and Natalie had given her an emergency C-section since the baby's heart beat was dangerously low. But after that, they had taken the baby away. She hadn't even heard its first cry.

And no one had said anything to her yet.

She didn't want to think about the possibility that her baby was dead. She desperately clung to the hope that her child was still alive. She even thought of new names for the baby. None that the father would have approved however, but she didn't care what he thought. Besides, he never had a knack for names and had admitted it.

She saw a shadow on the wall and rolled over to see Blaise standing in the doorway, leaning against it. He was watching her, a habit he had picked up in school. He had always told her that you could learn a lot about a person by watching them. He knew that both Ron and Harry unconsciously ran their hands throw their hair when they concentrated, that Lavender Brown didn't really care for Divination but followed Padma Patil anyway. He knew that Hermione loved chocolate, especially Hershey's cookie n' cream bars. He knew a lot from simply watching people.

"Are you going to come in?" He stood up and walked towards her, sitting in the chair beside her. He took the hand she had beside her head and kissed it, which reminded her of his habit of doing so before they went to bed every night. It was an odd, but comforting custom they had. "Did they tell you anything?"

"Ron only said that you were in the hospital. I wasn't told why."

"I went into premature labor, or that is what Dr. Finnegan said. They couldn't risk natural birth, which is what I would have wanted, so they did a C-section. Since I returned here they won't tell me a thing. I was hopping perhaps they told you something." He nodded. She noticed his mood was a bit more somber.

"No, I haven't heard anything from the doctor or the rest. Kelly and Ron went home for awhile. They told me to say they will be back later. Nicole is sleeping in the waiting room and Harry isn't here at all." Blaise started to play with her hair, another habit of his. She smiled slightly at the action. At least they weren't arguing like before. However, they were both stubborn people and she knew that Blaise wouldn't come back until Voldemort was dead. They remained silent for the time being, both mentally battling themselves inside.

"May I ask a question?"

"Isn't that one?"

"Don't answer questions with more questions." She smiled at their clichéd conversation, but she looked at him to ask what he wanted. "Why didn't you tell me?" She knew what he was talking about, but she didn't want to tell him. She had to, he deserved to know why she kept her pregnancy a secret but she also felt ridiculous about it as well.

"I wasn't sure how you would react to the news. I kept pushing it off, fearing that when I told you, you would get mad or reject me and the baby. It was stupid I know, but I couldn't help but feel scared. After all we haven't had the most stable relationship."

"Hermione, we have been dating for over three years. It wasn't as if we were together for a week. Plus you should know I would have wanted any child of ours." He paused, looking at her. She knew he was hurt by her lack of trust, and perhaps more hurt by the admission that she felt he wouldn't want their child. "You should have told me. I knew for awhile, but I waited for you to tell me and you never did." He sighed and turned to face the wall in front of him, not looking at her anymore. She slowly sat up, bringing her sore body up to lean against the headboard.

"I'm sorry, Blaise. I should have been more honest with you. However it isn't as if you were being completely honest with me." He laughed, actually laughed at her.

"Hermione, you are one of the few people I am actually honest with. I have told you everything, including things I rather no one knew about. The only thing I kept from you was the extent that Voldemort is playing around with up here and yet you compare that to keeping from me the fact that I'm going to be a father. I don't see how those two equal."

"You could have told me you knew about the baby." He stood up.

"Would that have changed anything? I doubt it. We would still be here having this argument whether or not I told you that I knew. It wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have changed the fact that you don't trust me. You really never have fully trusted me. You trusted me enough to fight on the same team, trust me enough to live with you but when it came to personal things that mattered between the two of us you didn't. That's the main problem with us. How are we supposed to last without being able to tell each other everything?" Hermione noticed that when Blaise was made, he got quieter instead of louder like most people. He was very quiet now.

He stopped pacing the room and returned to his seat, trying to calm down. He knew he shouldn't be getting angry. After all usually when they fought, which was actually not often, Hermione always got passionate about it. That would not help her at all.

"We can discuss that more later, anyhow. How are you feeling?" If Hermione was surprised by his change of subject she didn't show it.

"Depends. Right now I am doing fine since they gave me some more medication recently. When the pain meds wear off, I feel horrible. I'm lucky they did the C-section using magic instead of actual muggle instruments. I won't have a scar and I should be healed by this afternoon." She was going to stay overnight because Natalie wanted to watch her for awhile but she didn't tell him that. He just nodded and they remained silent for awhile.

Harry walked through the door about ten minutes into their silent span, looking tired yet happy. He had scratches and marks all over his body but Hermione could see that a medic had attended him at least.

"Voldemort is dead," he said with a happy, relieved, yet tired voice. "Its over for now."

* * *

Across town, in a warm furnished room, things were happening. Ginevra Weasley-Malfoy opened her eyes for the first time in a month and a half. With Voldemort's death, the curse which had kept her in a death-like stance had been removed, granting her life instead of the usual death and the same for her child. She looked around her confused, but noticing she was in the Manor.

In the bed beside her, her husband also began to awaken from his long sleep. The Malfoys were back, although no one knew why they had been spared.

After Harry was made to rest in the other bed in her room, Hermione had finally gotten some answers out of the doctor. The baby, like most children, was very dependent on their mother's actions. The fact that Hermione had used magic so much during the war, combined with her stress load and the fact that she often had bad nutrition and did not sleep often, she had been exhausted. The body, in trying to retain some energy, tried to reject the baby.

Luckily for the baby Hermione had arrived to the hospital in time. Natalie had been able to do the surgery and save the baby. Regardless of magic or no magic the little girl (Hermione had smiled when she realized both her and Blaise's guess had been right) would have to stay in the hospital for several months due to the prematurely of her birth Hermione would also have to stay for awhile due to her state of heath. Harry was sleeping and no one knew how much power or energy he had used for the final confrontation (and at that Hermione wondered why Ron and she were not there.) and was going to stay there with her.

Blaise had gone home after finding that she and their daughter were going to be ok. She had let him choose the name, and honestly he actually did a better job then she did for once. Of course it wasn't hard as he had named the baby after his mother and older sister. Arienne Amarante Zabini. Hermione planned on calling her Mara for short.

It was odd to think about her relationship with Blaise. After all the fighting they had done in the last two days, and on the subjects they had fought on, did they even have a chance. Neither of them could find a way to quite forgive the other for the lack of trust. Trust is one of the building blocks and without it the relationship would fail. She had seen that enough with the various relationships broken when sides were chosen.

She could be honest with herself and admit that in the four years they had been dating, three years living together, she came to love him. She knew he wasn't planning on leaving her, especially with Mara being born. However the relationship was going to be strained if she didn't do something fast and it wouldn't be at all what she wanted.

She wanted a relationship like Ron and Kelly. Kelly was an American muggleborn, making her twice the outcast then usual. She didn't care however, she still loved Ron and didn't care that there was a world that hated her for Ron loved her too. Nicole and Harry had the same type of relationship. They the attitude as if they could save the world simply on the love and friendship between them.

She certainly had the teamwork thing down with Blaise. They had been working together on projects since they were 13. They had worked very well together. Their greatest teamwork accomplishment to date was setting their best friends up. Ginny and Draco were extremely happy together, or were when they were awake. Occasionally they would have fights were everything came down to the three year old politics of Hogwarts.

She wondered if any soap opera was as hard to figure out as her life.

* * *

Blaise sat in Ron's office at the Ministry staring out the window. Ron was outside giving a press conference in Harry's steed about the defeat of Voldemort. Apparently the assurances of the new Minster of Magic Neville Longbottom were not taken seriously despite that both Neville and his wife Sarah were war heroes. Ron, as Harry Potter's best friend, seemed to have more clout when it came to having people believe him, though Blaise had serious doubts that even Ron and Harry could calm their fears. After all, they had thought him gone before.

Neville had grown up a lot in the last couple of years. He was often over at Hermione's house since the two were friends and Blaise would admit that he liked Neville. He was a very nice person, perhaps too nice for his own good. He had decided that since he couldn't do magic very well, he could at least help the political way. Sarah, a half-blood witch from Slytherin, had done it as well and was working as the Minister of Muggle-Wizard relations. That certainly had caused a ruckus in the members of the house she was sorted into. Many of the Death Eaters were often heard murmuring that they knew she was a no good muggle-lover. It was funny how the fact that her mother was a muggle seemed to escape them until she decided to go against their plans. She had been upset that so many of her friends had chosen Voldemort over her, and Blaise and Draco had tried to help her through that. They were their own Slytherin club. Neville had been glad they helped her. He had once told Blaise, when the two were outside waiting for Hermione and Sarah to join them, that Sarah considered him one of her only friends, almost an older brother. And to be honest, he saw her as a younger sister too.

"Sorry it took so long. Looks like we are going to have to have Harry come out and have his wand tested for everyone to believe us."

"Do you blame them?"

"Honestly, no. Still makes it frustrating even if I agree with their reasons to be skeptical. How's Hermione?"

"She's fine. Nat says that she will be able to come home tomorrow afternoon."

"Are you guys going to work it out?" Blaise sighed and finally turned to his girlfriend's best friend. Ron was leaning against the closed door of his office, looking pretty stunning in his formal robes. Of course he had a fashion designer for a wife; he was bound to wear good looking cloths. Kelly would have it no other way.

"Honestly, I have no clue. I want to but then again I don't want to get into the fight that always comes when we talk about it."

"Both of you are very stubborn people." Blaise didn't reply, and Ron didn't need one. He stood up and walked towards the window where his friend sat, again watching the crowds as they dispersed from the grand courtyard below. "Do you love her?" Blaise looked up at him with expressionless eyes. Of course only Hermione could decipher those eyes, Ron never could. Perhaps it came with being in love with a Slytherin.

"Remember when you wrote your vows for your wedding to Kelly and put in that you lived for her?"

"Yes."

"You know exactly how I feel for Hermione. It is what you feel for Kelly."


	5. Antione Zabini and the Case of the Brood...

Chapter Five:

When Hermione got upset, she cleaned. And to say Hermione was upset would be an understatement. She was both angry and depressed and it was unfortunate for any dirt or bacteria in her house that she was that way. She had cleaned the house from top to bottom, renovated two of the rooms and was starting on the baby's room. Arienne was coming home that Friday, finally healthy enough not to have constant supervision by a medical professional.

It had been six months since the birth of their daughter and Blaise had yet to move back in. She had hoped he would have come back home now that the threat of Voldemort was over, but he hadn't. Every once in a while he would come over to collect something. He hadn't moved out completely either, which gave her both hope and frustration. She didn't know where they stood and not knowing something drove her crazy. She needed to KNOW and he was an enigma to her more then ever before. He visited Arienne all the time, the hospital workers had told her that much, but he avoided her like the plaque.

According to Ron, Kelly, Nicole and Harry he wasn't boarding with any of them nor at Malfoy Manor with the newly re-mobilized Malfoys. He wasn't staying with Severus Snape, his uncle, or with Ariel Flint, his aunt. No one knew where he was. Granted, she hadn't really welcomed him home the few times he had come back. The last time had been for a picnic in the backyard to celebrate Harry's recovery and victory.

"Excuse me?" Hermione was broken out of her musing by the voice and looked up to see a man not unlike Blaise standing there. This one was a tad bit shorter with brown eyes instead blue, but they could have been mistaken for brothers had she not known that Blaise had only a sister who had died from a strange illness when she was four years old.

"May I help you?"

"I'm looking for Blaise Zabini. I was told he lives here."

"Then you were told wrong, sir. Mr. Zabini hasn't resided here for several months." He looked at her with a confused glance before it dawned on him.

"You are Ms. Hermione Granger, are you not?"

"Yes, Mr..."

"Zabini, Antoine. I'm Blaise's cousin. He has told me about you." _He also told me he was going to ask you to marry him, not move out. This is not like my cousin,_ he thought as he watched her stand up and walk towards him. He and his cousin had been good friends since their childhood, almost brothers despite the continental distance between them. Their fathers had been brothers and during the summers both boys could be found either in England or Italy. Once they had graduated they had mostly remained in their home countries but they had called almost every week or emailed since Blaise had a fondness for muggle laptops and insisted that Tony have the same. However Blaise hadn't contacted him in a couple of months and while Blaise was occasionally broodish he never went more then three months without contacting him.

"Please come in Antoine. Would you like some tea?"

"Coffee if you don't mind. I came because I haven't heard from Blaise for awhile and I was wondering what the answer was."

"The answer to what?" Hermione brought over the coffee and cream. Antoine smiled. Blaise's aversion to having sugar added to his coffee still continued even years later. Luckily Antoine liked it either with or without sugar. He accepted the cup with a smile and sat at the kitchen table. He found it interesting that Hermione was so trusting of him even though they had never met and he had entered her home without permission.

"If you would marry him of course. He called me about a year ago to ask me to send our grandmother's wedding ring that was kept safe in our vault in Italy. The oldest son always receives the ring. So I sent it to him. I had expected to have had a wedding invitation by now." Hermione smiled weakly at him.

"He never asked."

* * *

The ministry was busy. Birds throughout the building, papers were everywhere, and people were rushing to get things done. Ever since the death of Voldemort the Ministry had never been so busy. They had to file papers documenting the various losses in the war, the death eaters in custody and those who needed to be in custody and to whom the war effort owed money to.

The women in the dark velvet clock went unnoticed amongst the commotion as she made her way to the back where the Minister's office was located. They were too busy to notice how she slowly walked towards the room or how she kept looking around as if someone were to attack her.

She walked into the room and silently closed the door behind her. Neville Longbottom, the new Minister of Magic, didn't even hear it close and therefore didn't look up from where he was reviewing papers. He was being extra careful to read the small print since various laws were being presented with intolerable conditions. One had all purebloods in a specialized camp. Nevile had been shocked at that one considering how many pureblooded witches and wizards were helping the "good" side. Another wanted purebloods to marry into Muggleborn familes. Neville could understand that some people were scared of how things were going to be but he refused to act on any legislation that would force people to do things due to their bloodline. Didn't they just fight a war to prevent such a thing?

Suddenly he noticed that the room had gotten quieter and he looked up to see the women standing in front of him. Despite the fear that seemed to radiate from her, she stood regally before his desk.

"Pansy Parkinson. It's interesting to see you here."

"It's Flint now. I married Marcus four years ago, remember."

"Actually I can't say that I do. After all we weren't pen pals now were we?"

"While it is lovely to exchange pleasantries with you, Longbottom, there is a reason I am here."

"And that would be...?"

"As you know my family had...dubious connections."

"That's putting it lightly."

"Well, some remaining contacts were at my house this past weekend. I overheard them discussing some things that may be important to you. I will exchange this information for protection of my children."

"Spying for us?"

"No, just trying to protect someone who doesn't deserve all the crap he's been though. Will you agree to my request?"

"Yes, I think we can do that." Pansy sighed in relief almost before sitting down in the chair in front of the desk.

"Marcus wasn't a believer in Voldemort, although he never outwardly opposed it either. I found out later, after he was killed, that the reason he was given away was due to a family ring that he wore. The ring was cursed to allow Voldemort access to the wearer's mind to a certain point. Basically he could mess with the person's mind but couldn't take it over like the imperious curse. When Marcus died, he had written in his will that the ring go to his mother's sister's son Blaise Zabini who was the next oldest male in the family."

"Why his mother's sister? Wouldn't it go by patriarchal lines?"

"No, since it was Marcus's mother, Adorna Spencer, who had given him the ring. It had belonged to his grandfather till his death when Marcus was 17. Then it went to Marcus as the next Spencer male in line. Adorna's sister Arienne Spencer-Zabini had two children around Marcus's age but both were daughters. Blaise was born later."

"I wasn't aware Blaise had any sisters."

"Amarante and Clarisse. Both are dead now. Clarisse died before Blaise was born though, so he wouldn't know her very well. I only know her from what Marcus told me."

"So Marcus gets this cursed ring and hands it over to Blaise. What of it?"

"Voldemort was trying to use the ring against him. Twist his mind so that he turned against Hermione Granger and her friends. That was his main concentration for awhile. He figured that if he got Blaise to get rid of Granger by making him go insane, he would have one of Harry Potter's supports gone and Potter would be weaker."

"And while he was concentrating on that, he failed to see us sneaking up and kicking his ass." Pansy raised an eyebrow at his language but continued.

"However, despite the Lord's death some of my contacts still wish to back at Blaise due to his outspoken position on the matter. They plan on using the family ring to locate him and kill him and his young family."

"Parkinson, how am I to believe you."

"Ask Blaise. Ask Severus Snape. They will tell you where I belong."

"How many children do you have?"

"Three. 4 year old Tonya, 3 year old Septia and 18 month old Diana."

"I shall try to do the best I can." Neville stood up. "Thank you for your corporation with authorities Mrs. Flint." Pansy stood up as well and nodded. Neither said goodbye as the women in black left, once again unnoticed by those in the offices she past.

* * *

"You have a beautiful home, Hermione."

"Thank you Antoine. This is actually the room that Mara will go in." She opened the door to the room she considered her favorite. It was painted a pale green with a dark burgundy carpet. The baby's things were done up in various pastels and a border of flowers that bloom every morning went around the top.

"So you're not going to live in the Mansion?" Antoine was looking out the window but he looked back at her when he had asked the question.

"What mansion?"

"His family estate. It's located in Italy, of course, but there is a way to get there so that it's close to England. Uncle Adriano did that for Aunt Arienne. She was an English lady at heart, no matter how much she loved Italy's history." Antoine paused for a moment before looking up at Hermione. "Do you always have someone watching the house?"

"No..." She looked out and saw a couple fairly large bodies trying to fade into the walls of the house next door wearing black. She watched them, slightly confused before Antoine grabbed her and rushed her out of the room as the wall she had been looking out of buckled and removed itself from the wall. The explosion created enough of a blast to blow Hermione and Antoine against the wall opposite the room.


	6. Bad Days and Aunt Fiona

Chapter Six:

When Neville arrived at the scene, there were people gathered around the blocked off area, staring at the half-destroyed house. Muggles and Magical people alike where in shock at the sight. Aurors were on hand, keeping the people away while another team searched through the rumble for survivors and causalities.

It made him sick sometimes what Death Eaters would steep to. Despite the fact that the war had been over for at least three months and Lord Voldemort, their reason for fighting, was dead for the last six, Death Eater attacks were still happening. More recently suicide bombers had become popular since that meant that not only did the person kill someone on the side against Voldemort they would not be taken to Azkaban as anything but a corpse so they won twice. The rebuilding of the magical world and its people was still taking place and at this rate would be for quite some time.

Blaise Zabini had been forced finally to see a psychologist by Ron Weasley due to his mental battle with Voldemort and still had to see him twice a month. Draco Malfoy and his wife Ginevra were still going though physical therapy after about two months in a death-like coma and Ginny was seeing a specialist to make sure their child had not received any ill effects of the curse. Lavender Brown still wouldn't put her wand down and when she did she would panic attacks. Yes, they had a long way to go till the emotional and mental wounds would be healed.

"What can you tell me, Edwards?" Norton Edwards was the Senior Auror at the scene and he jumped slightly when Neville questioned him. It was not common for the Minister of Magic to visit the crime scenes. However, Neville Longbottom was not a common Minister nor did he plan on becoming one any time soon.

"We have found two life signs, sir," Edwards finally replied. "The house belongs to a H.J. Granger and we believe she is one of the two since none of the causalities we found were female."

"Causalities?"

"Yes, Sir. An apparent suicide bomber or bombers in this case. They must have really wanted her dead. The bodies are of Goyle, Gregory; Avery, Christopher; and Nott, Michael." Neville grimaced slightly. Over the years he had become friends with Theo Nott and this was not the kind of news he wanted to give the man, especially not after the man had ecstatically announced the birth of his oldest child Daphne Elizabeth Nott. Hannah wouldn't be happy either, and she disliked her father-in-law with a passion. Neville was brought out of his thoughts when Edwards continued. "According to Miss Rothlesburger, Ms. Granger's neighbor, an Italian gentleman called on her today. We believe he may be the second life sign."

"A yank?" Neville asked, point towards the house of the source. It had a Pittsburgh Steeler flag hanging in one of the windows.

"Actually, no sir. Why would you ask?"

"There is an American Footballer by that name. Pretty good according to my wife. Must have just become a fan due to the name."

"Perhaps so. Personally, I think Beckham is the best player out there." Neville shook his head. He should be glad the boy was knowledgeable about muggle sports. Many didn't get that Americans were the oddballs and had a different name for practically everything. Sarah's mother had been American and had installed in her daughter the love of American Football. It got her riled up when people mistook it for 'soccer'.

The mention of an Italian man made Neville wonder. Blaise had told Ron and him he was taking the day off and visiting Draco in Lancaster. He was supposed to be there the whole weekend. Perhaps he had changed his plans and decided to visit Hermione. With the chilly atmosphere between the two as of late, it didn't seem like something that Blaise would do given the circumstances.

"Sir, Sir!!" The two looked as an eager new recruit, who had to be just out of Hogwarts and the training program, rushed towards them. "We have found the two people the detector saw." Neville and Edwards rushed towards the area where the recovery crew had gathered.

The first person to be dragged out of the area cleared by the recovery team was a women, and clearly Hermione Granger. She seemed relatively unhurt, a miracle considering the look of the building, but was covered in dust and various cuts and bruises. Neville stepped under the line and walked over to her. She smiled at him as the man who had been holding her handed her off to him.

"The things I get myself into, huh?" Neville smiled and helped her walk off to a bench nearby. She had clearly broken her ankle, and had several cuts around her face and body that looked deep. Edwards and the other person they had found shortly joined them. He seemed in the same shape as Hermione, only his cuts appeared to be deeper.

"Hello, I'm Antoine Zabini," he introduced himself with a smile. He held out his hand and shook Neville's. "Is this how you English spend your off time?" He joked.

* * *

Blaise was just finishing a light lunch with Draco when his cell phone rang. He looked though his jacket annoyed. He hated the bloody thing but carried it as a sign to Hermione that he respected her Muggle heritage. He found little use for it but even after six months of technically not seeing Hermione he still had it. Maybe it was a symbol that he hoped one day they would both be able to get over the issues and get back together.

"What the in name of a deity is that?" Draco asked from his chair. When Blaise finally found it and brought it out he looked at it as if it was some strange alien device…. Which to him it probably was.

"A cell phone." Draco scoffed. A muggle device, working in his home. The world had to be ending. His grandparents were rolling in their graves at the end of the property. It was un-malfoyish. Blaise ignored his look of disgust and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"HELLO?" Blaise tore the phone away from his ear, though it was too late to escape Ron Weasley's "Phone voice". He could hear in the background Kelly yelling at him to hand over the phone.

"Sorry about that Blaise. I haven't phone-trained him yet," Kelly apologized. "You would think after having a muggle-raised best friend for so long and then a muggleborn wife he'd learn." Blaise could hear the slight teasing in her voice.

"That's alright. You're just giving Draco heart palpitations for using a muggle device in his home. You usually just floo or send an owl. Why the phone today?"

"Because I needed the quickest way to get to you. It's about Hermione." Her voice had lost the teasing tone and was now very serious. Blaise set up and Draco looked over worried, noticing that his friend had gotten tense.

"What about Hermione?"

"Her house was bombed today. Before you go running off, listen to me first," she continued, accurately guessing Blaise's reaction. "She's alright and staying at Harry's. She doesn't know I'm calling you. However, your cousin is also there and I thought you should know about him as well." Draco, who had been listening in due to the volume of the phone seemed a tad bit worried. Despite his normal hostility towards Hermione Granger, he had learned to care for her at one point as a friend. It did help that Ginny happened to be Hermione's best friend outside Harry and Ron.

"I'll be right there."

"Be careful. We don't know if there are going to be any more attacks today. Neville is investigating this personally." Blaise said his good-byes and shut the phone down before turning to Draco.

"Go, Go. I know you want to see her, though I don't know why," Draco responded, a slight tone of care hidden beneath the words. "Just be safe yourself. I don't want to explain to her why you never made it. Ginny would kill me and then Hermione would find some spell to raise me from the dead just so she could kill me again."

* * *

"Here, drink some of this," Harry said as he handed them two cups of hot cocoa. Hermione received it with a quiet thanks and immediately drinking while Antoine looked at the drink with curiosity. He took a drink and seemed to enjoy it.

"Thanks Harry, I appreciate it. Where's Nicole by the way?" Hermione asked.

"She's off visiting relatives. Her half-brother and his wife are in town and she wanted to show them around."

"I hope their tour is a better one then mine," Antoine joked. "I never thought coming to England would be such…an adventure." Harry smiled which in turn made Hermione smile. It had been six months but the sight of Harry smiling and it being a true smile was still new to her and brightened her day whenever she saw it.

"I certainly hope so," Harry responded. "But then you Zabinis never did anything the normal way."

"Why when the strange keeps you on your toes. So when is my dear cousin coming?" Hermione paled slightly at the thought but not enough for the two men to notice.

"He's most likely on his way here. Kelly promised to call him. I hope to God that she didn't give Ron the phone." Antoine looked curious so Harry continued. "Ron tends to not realize that he can use his normal volume when on the phone. He tends to be quite loud."

"I don't use telephones," Antoine said. "I find them too confusing myself." He put his cup down on the coffee table. "I once dated a girl who loved that gadget. Was always on it and it almost seemed that it was attached to her ear, I swear. I figured I would help her out and charmed it to her ear. Needless to say my mother boxed me and did a memory charm on the girl. Avoided those things ever since."

"How old were you?"

"16." Hermione was about to ask another question when Blaise burst though the door.

He rushed into the living room where the three were sitting. Hermione's heart warmed slightly at his obvious concern. He still cared for her.

"Don't worry, we are both fine," Antoine spoke up before Blaise could say anything. "We managed to get into another room before the blast so we escaped most of the damage with only a few minor cuts and bruises, and Hermione had a broken ankle and a concussion. All healed now though." Blaise stared at her for awhile till she confirmed Antoine's statements. Then he turned his gaze to his cousin.

"What are you doing here?" Antoine held up his hands.

"Hey…I'm only here because I haven't heard from you in awhile and wanted to check up. My mother wants to kill you for making her worry."

"Tell Aunt Fiona she shouldn't have worried. I'm just not chatty as of late."

"You can tell her. She's planning on coming over to your place next week. She also plans to give your daughter a big huge Italian welcome."

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"Basically," Antoine replied, "She's going to get the entire Zabini clan, plus the other Italian families that we have any relation to together and have a big huge party that could and very well may last several days."

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh, sure," Blaise answered, "If you like to be greeted by a hundred people who are basically going to be your house mates for the next three days. Aunt Fiona holds festivals, not parties." That reminded Blaise of something. "By the way, where do you plan on staying, Hermione?"

"Harry's I suppose."

"Well, not anymore. You're going to come live at the manor with me."

* * *

**Author Dedications**

This is dedicated to Ben Rothliesburger who is the QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American Football team. When I wrote this (early 2005), we had just lost a game in the playoffs that would have gotten us to the Superbowl. Since then we have managed to have a great season that won us the Superbowl and a really bad season afterwards. But I'm still dedicating the chapter to him and the team.


	7. The Invasion of Flora

An: Just a warning that Draco's got a language problem towards the end of this chapter. If you are offended by such langauge and don't want to read it, I'd avoid the last paragraph or two when Draco speaks with Blaise.

* * *

Chapter Seven: The Flora Invasion

The two of them argued over the fact for at least an hour which for the most Harry and Antoine spent in the kitchen talking to each other about the two fighting people in the next room. It was Blaise who finally ended the argument by picking her up and apparating to his Italian estate.

Hermione was furious and when he put her down she stormed off. She would have apparated back to Harry's except for the fact that she did not have her wand. It was still in evidence custody and would be till eight that evening.

After about a five-minute power walk she realized that somehow she had gotten lost in the villa and that Blaise hadn't even attempted to follow her. It deflated her mood slightly but she was still angry so she continued to walk. After awhile she decided to explore the rooms since she was already lost.

She walked into the room to her left and found herself in a room overlooking a vineyard. It had a large bay window with several cushions and pillows and the walls were painted soft pastel colors. There was no furniture in the room except for an old rocking chair but from the look of it, the room was regularly cleaned and dusted. The wooden floors shined. Looking up Hermione even noticed that the ceiling was charmed to see the night sky.

"I see you found the room I was planning for Mara." Hermione turned around to see Blaise leaning against the doorframe. "I haven't put much furniture in here yet because I wasn't sure where she was going to live and couldn't find the right furniture for the room." He pointed to the rocking chair. "Except that. That has been in my mother's family for generations. Passed down to the oldest daughter when she gets married. Since my sister never got married it got handed down to me."

"Where's your room?" Hermione decided to forgo the angry tirade for the time being. The room seemed peaceful and she didn't want to ruin the mood it set with fighting. "I assume it's nearby."

"Next door, actually. It's the secondary master suite. There used to be several families living in this house at once so there were three master bedroom suites. I couldn't handle using my parents so I took the one next door. Personally I think its better. Come on, I'll show you."

He took her out of the room and down the hall to another room. Hermione thought it was a little far from the baby's room but kept silent. Partially because she didn't want to sound like a bitter old aunt and also because the room Blaise showed her was magnificent.

Everything in the room was done in warm cherry colored woods. It was extremely large, with a front sitting room with enough room that a family could have breakfast in there with no trouble. On one wall there were three doors.

The door to the left led to an office complete with a dark cherry desk that seemed at least hundred years old and several book shelves full of various books (including several muggle volumes she easily recognized). It had papers scattered across the surface, looking very much in use.

The door located in the center lead to the actual bedroom. The floor like the sitting room was wood but had several rugs, all looking extremely expensive and old. The bed was a four-post bed with voluminous curtains that could surround it. It had a chest in front of it, which Hermione assumed was for the linens of the room. There was a sitting area to the one side near a fireplace consisting of two chairs and a small table for nighttime reading. She supposed the larger one was for when you wanted a comfortable spot for your friends to join you.

Nearby the sitting area was a door leading to a large bathroom. One side had a shower and toilet area while the other had a large Jacuzzi style tub big enough she thought to bathe an entire Quiddich team. Across from the bathroom was a pair of French doors that lead to a small balcony overlooking the same vineyard that Mara's room overlooked.

The final door from the sitting room she never went through. When she went to try she was told that it wasn't complete yet.

"It takes awhile to make a new door. The charms and spells used take awhile to design so we only have it partially completed. It should be complete by the end of the weekend. It will go into Mara's room," Blaise explained when she looked at him confused. "I wanted easier access to her room. Going the natural way would take too long if something was seriously wrong with the baby."

"The rooms look fabulous. Did you design them?"

"The interior design was mostly me, but a lot of the furniture and the wood and stone work are from the last people who roomed in this room, my great aunt Elga and her third husband Bertie."

"Bertie Zabini?"

"No, Bertie Fangelli, which I think might be worse. They died a few years before I was born leaving no children so my mother gave me their suite when I turned ten. I think she figured it would be better for me to stay away from her suite."

Hermione had heard the tales of Blaise's mother. Apparently she had seven husbands, all dying shortly after their wedding days with the exception of one, Blaise's father.

"Blaise Anthony Zabini!" came a loud voice from down the hall. Hermione turned to see a tall black haired woman rushing into the room, followed by a smirking Antoine. "How dare you bring your fiancée home without inviting me, your own Aunt Flora, to see her? Let's take a look at you dear." Flora circled the girl like a hawk, accessing her. Antoine gave her a slight smile when she rolled her eyes.

"She's not my fiancée, Aunt Flora."

"Of course she is. Your mother would just die if she knew you hadn't married the girl before getting her pregnant but what is done is done. She seems all right, for a muggleborn. She'll do quite nicely."

"She's not my..."

"Oh, do shut up Blaise, dear. I heard you the first time. From what your cousin tells me you never got to actually asking her but you planned on it." Flora sighed and turned to Hermione. "The Zabini males are a shy lot" she stated as an explination. "Takes them ages to decide anything. Took my brother four years to get up the courage to ask Blaise's mother to marry him, although I think the six husbands before him did give him a right to pause. Don't give up on this boy yet. He does have his mother spirit in him and she got married seven times. I can't imagine he will take too long."

Hermione just smiled. Aunt Flora was an interesting woman. "Granted, and please do not take offence to this dear, had my brother and his wife been alive they would no doubt have flipped at the thought of their only son marrying a muggleborn. They weren't death eaters by any means," Flora continued as she pulled Hermione behind her down the hall, saying the words 'Death Eater' like it was a curse. "But they were sympathetic to the pureblood cause. I'm quite happy Blaise turned out the way he did. For the longest time I thought he would take their sympathies a step too far and join with his friend Roco but he didn't and I'm glad."

"His name is Draco, Flora and you know that full well. And he didn't join Voldemort."

"Whatever. Ah, this is the room." Flora took out a key from her large floral covered bag and unlocked the door. Hermione glanced back at Blaise to see him equally as wondered about what Flora was up to. Antoine seemed to have made himself scarce. "Well, don't just stand there, come in!"

The two walked into the room and Flora shut the door behind them. Hermione frowned in confusion as she saw a room filled with candles, pillows and stain-glass windows depicting several different scenes. At one end a small table with more candles stood. It was made of stone with excellent workmanship. The four legs of the table were very detailed carvings of vines and dragons. Hermione could almost see them breathing or swaying slightly in the breeze.

"The stone is called Koraani. It's a magical stone. It takes a very skilled craftsman to be able to work with it. Magic can not do anything to it. There used to be four such tables. Legend has it that those were the tables belonging to each of the four founders of Hogwarts. I have no idea if those are true or not, but I do know that only two now left.

"The other two were lost. Some say they remain hidden beneath Hogwarts and others say some found a way to destroy them. The other known one is in Stonehenge Museum. They know nothing of this table and only the Zabini family will ever know about it. Generations of the family have married here. The use of the table seals the bound more securely then any legal paper or magical spell."

"It's beautiful." Hermione ran her hands along the top of the table, feeling it to be warm. She could just imagine her wedding using it.

"Yes it is," Flora replied. "My brother and sister were the last to be married here." She paused as she traced the Latin inscriptions along the tabletop's sides. "You two will be the next."

"Aunt Flora, Hermione and I aren't getting married." Hermione turned to Blaise and saw him staring blankly at the table. All of a sudden Hermione felt extremely angry and hurt. He never imagined them married; he didn't see the magnificent table as something for them but simply as a family artifact that his aunt thought was interesting.

Somehow, she felt as if in those eight words he had finally let her know what the possibilities were. None.

"You never asked me," she said calmly, trying not to show either the hurt or the anger.

"You gave me your answer without ever needing the question, Hermione." Once again, there was no emotion in his voice or eyes.

"I always needed the question, Blaise. You just never seemed to want to really know the answer. I would have married you had you asked." _You never saw me silently pleading with you to come home. I was lonely for you. Didn't you ever notice?_

"Really? You gave the impression that you would rather be married to a piece of toast rather then me."

"We were separated Blaise. I was trying to make you jealous."

"With a piece of toast?" Aunt Flora asked.

"No, with Miles Betchley. He's got the personality of toast. Obviously it didn't work. Excuse me, Aunt Flora, but your nephew is right, we won't be getting married. I've been delusional the past six months. There is no chance for us unless we are fighting and I had enough of that for the last five years. I'm going to see Ginny for awhile, so don't worry about my safety. No one would dare blow up Malfoy Manner as it will no doubt bring ages of wards down upon those who try. I'll see you Blaise later to discuss how to deal with Mara's custody arrangements."

Hermione walked out of the room shutting the door behind.

"Well, Blaise. When you mess up, you certainly do a fine job of it," Aunt Flora said with a sigh. Young people these days.

Blaise hadn't heard a word. He still stood staring at the closed door, unknowingly speaking the same thing Flora had, only with much more colorful vocabulary.

He had just lost her. Because he had done nothing. And now there seemed to be nothing he could do.

Hermione was gone for good and he hadn't a clue on how to stop her.

"Um…not to interrupt your brooding dear cousin, but there is a pale man who looks quite disgruntled asking to talk to you in the fireplace in the bedroom and I think you should take it."

Blaise sighed and walked back to his room. Well it was supposed to be his room. He hadn't actually slept in it for two years now. Either way, he wasn't in the mood to talk to Draco at the moment.

"Alright, Zabini," Draco started in the trademark 'business' voice he had learned from his father, "How did you fuck up this time?" Blaise not surprised by his friends use of a swear word, but of his use of what was primarily a muggle explicative.

"What?"

"It's obvious you have. I was sitting down to have a nice dinner with my wife when out of the blue pops Granger of all people, crying like she needs to refill the Nile and blubbering to Ginevra about something and I caught two words. 'Blaise' and 'wanker'.

My wife spoke both, I might add. Whatever you did you better fix it, because I don't want Granger hanging out at my house all the time."

Blaise sighed.

"I have no idea, this time. None whatsoever."


	8. Birth of a Nation

A/N: Well, I have changed my mind and decided to continue this story a little bit more. Those of you who have read in the past might want to re-read the earlier chapters because I made a few changes. For those of you who are new to this story, I had considered this story to be over awhile back. I was planning for this to go into a sequel. However, that plan fell through and when I started reading over this to revise and post on my website I suddenly got the idea on how to finish this plot bunny out without a sequel (although you never know…I might still make one depending on how I end this). So yes, Sometimes is back to being WIP.

* * *

Ginerva Malfoy was known for her patience. She was known for being the calm one of the Weasleys in comparison, although even she had a temper. One of which was usually pointed towards her husband of almost two years. However, at the moment it was directed towards his best friend.

Hermione Granger was the closest to a best friend Ginny had outside of Luna Lovegood. To see the older woman _wailing_ was a sight to behold and frankly one Ginny never wanted to see.

Blaise was very lucky that Ginny was severely pregnant and therefore going apperate and kick his ass for treating her friend that way.

"Oh, Gin. I'm so sorry I'm doing this to you," Hermione sniffled. "Here I am practically weeping over something stupid when you should be resting and not being put into stressful situations."

"Hermione, love, this child is a Malfoy and a Weasley. Existing will be stressful. He should get used to it. Besides, if helping you causes me to go into labor, I'd be quite happy. This child was due two weeks ago and frankly I wish it had more of Draco's punctuality."

"Speaking of which, where is your husband?"

"Probably yelling at your ex-boyfriend if he knows what is good for him."

"Why would Draco yell at Ron for?"

"No dear, Blaise."

"Oh, god." Hermione said as she just realized that Blaise was technically her ex now. They had chosen one way or the other. Unfortunately it had to be the side that broke her heart. "He's my ex. I have a child with the man and he's my ex. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Life is what happens when your busy making other plans, or so I've been told by a good looking Muggle man," Ginny said with a smile. "I doubt anyone plans on having a family and breaking up right after their child is born but it happens. Even so, I'm sure Blaise will wise up and come begging for you back."

"I always had this picture in my head you know, where I would get married and have a small family. The man in my picture was always Ron growing up. It's funny how I never looked at my dream after I got involved with Blaise."

"You dreamed another dream."

"Yeah, I guess I did." Hermione sighed and leaned back against the cushions on the window seat. "Being in love sucks."

"I can't argue there. Are you going to tell me exactly what happened? All I've managed to get so far is that Blaise said something that made you end things."

"His Aunt came in from Italy."

"And..."

"She kept insinuating that we were engaged. Blaise didn't take it too well and kept reminding her we weren't and finally I couldn't take it anymore and broke things off then and there."

"Oh, Hermione…"

"Why can't he handle the idea of marrying me?"

"He's male. I think there is a biological hesitancy to latch themselves down to one woman. Almost makes them wonder if they are denying the species continuity. And Blaise doesn't exactly have good examples. How often was his mother married?"

"Seven, with his father being the last. I suppose she just couldn't handle the idea of killing off the father of her child." Ginny decided to not revel the rumors that she had heard about Arienne's mating practices. From what Draco could get out of his mother, who had been friends of the late Mrs. Zabini, she hadn't actually been the cause of death for more then two of them, and frankly out of those two she was only successful once. Apparently after having five husbands die on her she had gone slightly crazy and killed off the next one. Adriano had had one scare but apparently had known enough about his wife to keep an antidote in his pocket at all times. Apparently this had made her decide not to try again and actually think about having children with his man.

Too bad Blaise was the only child to really survive childhood. There were rumors there too, but Draco thought them all to be false.

"Perhaps he was scared."

"Perhaps he just didn't want to marry me."

"I suppose…" Ginny sighed and remained silent for awhile.

* * *

"You are an idiot."

"Thank you Draco for your support." Draco had flued from his house to Blaise's to get away from Ginny and Hermione. And to kick some sense into his friend.

"Why did you do that?"

"Hermione has never shown me anything to suggest she was interested in marriage and I was getting tired of Flora just assuming that we would."

"Blaise." Draco voice showed his annoyance. "I know I was in a coma for a few months, but that doesn't make my memory of before any less clear. It just means I have to have physical therapy. I clearly remember you planning to ask her to marry you. Wouldn't it have been easier to let her be the dissuader?"

"I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable here."

"You sure did a good job. Go to my house now and apologize and beg for her forgiveness or something. Anything. Just please do something."

"You know, you don't do well as the supportive friend."

"Ha! I am being supportive. I'm trying to herd you into making an action that will bring both of us happiness. You'll be blissfully happy with your mudblood and I'll have a blissfully quiet house."

"Draco." Blaise said dangerously. Draco rolled his eyes.

"You've known me for years, and yet you still get angry at me calling her that. You know I don't mean anything by it. It's habit that's all." Draco would have continued except that before he could say another word, Neville Longbottom appeared in Blaise's living room, looking very concerned.

* * *

Several things happened to Hermione that day that would make it one of the days in her life she would always remember. Not only had her house been bombed that morning, but she had met several members of her _ex_-boyfriend's family, ran away to her best friend's house, and then proceeded to tell the story.

And then figure out her best friend was in labor. Luckily Fred and his wife Zara had arrived around the same time Hermione caught on and had helped her take Ginny to St. Mungos and the care of Natalie Finnegan.

Shortly before midnight (with no sight of Draco) Ginny gave birth. All were surprised when the twins arrived. No one had been expecting twins, especially not a girl and a boy. All the family with the exception of Ron, Draco and Blaise had arrived shortly after Hermione and Zara had sent word. Molly was overjoyed at the presence of grandchildren. Even though most of her children were married, Molly had no grandchildren by blood. She did consider Mara a grandchild as well, but there was something to having them from your own children.

Fleur seemed a little miffed that she hadn't been the first Weasley wife to give birth. Hermione didn't know why she hadn't gotten over it already, but she was still irritated that Ginny had a baby (in this case two) before she did. Kelly and Zara had the same opinion as Hermione that this was a joyous occasion, although she did note that Zara was a little sad. Fred and she had been trying to have a child since they got married close to five years ago. However, they had found out the year previous that Zara might not be able to have children at all. Despite that they still hoped eventually to be parents and were looking into adopting.

"So what are you going to name them," Zara asked when the nurses brought the babies in to see their families.

"Jordana Octavia and Adrian Charles," Ginny replied. "Draco and I decided to be surprised so we picked out a name for each gender. I guess we were lucky then." Everyone was smiling at Ginny's honoring of her brother and Molly had tears in her eyes.

"Wonderful names, dear," a nurse commented. "Strong names that mean something." Zara, Hermione and Kelly all shared a look with Ginny who smiled.

"Thank you. That's what we were hoping."

* * *

Blaise had a bad feeling about this. He had a feeling they should be somewhere else at the moment, that something important was happening and the five men were missing it. Neville, Blaise, Draco and later Antoine and Ron were all at Flint manor where his cousin Marcus' widow still resided.

Neville had explained after arriving in Blaise's villa that Pansy Parkinson-Flint had approached him a few hours earlier before he had left to go to Hermione's house. She had mentioned a family ring that Blaise had that may be the tie to why Voldemort had managed to get into Blaise's mind despite the fact Snape had trained all his top students in preventing such a thing from occurring.

So here they were, in Pansy's studio. She didn't like to use Marcus' study and was renovating the sitting room where her father and his…lover…had met their ends. Apparently Voldemort wasn't above making a mess. Blaise had a feeling that if Pansy could do it, she'd tear down the entire manor and rebuild it. But she couldn't for sentimental reasons as well as legal. This was where she had lived her life with Marcus and she had loved her husband, even if it wasn't the kind of love most wives were expected to have.

It wasn't a well-known fact, but during the last years they were in Hogwarts, before Ron met Kelly, he had been involved with Pansy. However Pansy had ended it when her father required her to marry Marcus to 'preserve blood quality'. Ron had managed to move on and fall in love with Kelly (and there was no doubt that it was true) but Pansy still held a torch for the redhead. Ron was clearly uncomfortable standing here, with Pansy a few feet away, and Pansy likewise didn't seem to enjoy his presence there either. Pansy was an honorable woman, regardless of what she thought of muggleborns she wouldn't steal another women's husband. But she was tempted, he knew.

"So you think the ring Marcus gave me is somehow related to my dreams?"

"Yes. According to what I have heard Voldemort hoped to unnerve you enough to be able to use the Imperious on you at a later date. He wanted to get rid of both you and Hermione. He saw you both as a threat, not just as a way to get to her," Pansy said softly. Blaise wished Neville hadn't brought Ron. Ron might be the head of the investigation but this was really uncomfortable.

"Is this the ring?" Blaise held up the ring he had gotten. He had gotten a couple of family heirlooms from Marcus. The ring was one of two, but this was the one he had been wearing.

"Yes. The Katauri ring."

_Katauri_. Both Neville and Ron looked alarmed at Blaise turning white like he did but Draco knew why and understood.

The Spencer family was a part of an even earlier magical sect known as the Katauri. From this group were born those who had the gift of sight and various other magical powers that weren't prevalent in the rest of society. Blaise himself had the ability to transform into animagus form almost from birth. Marcus' ability was his ability to glamour and other small charms and spells without a wand. No one besides Blaise and Pansy knew that his teeth weren't really the way everyone saw. Granted Blaise still didn't understand the reason he had for keeping it that way.

However, the ring was a sign of the family oath to keep such things private. No one was to use it for gain unless it was for the greater good, such as Blaise had used it. However, should one get control of a Katauri, or the family ring, they could cause a lot of damage.

But that wasn't why Blaise went write. Thinking about it now, he realized that since he got the ring, some of his lesser Katauri given powers had been increased. That was how he knew Hermione was pregnant with a baby girl when she had only guessed that. Mara would no doubt have powers that were unique.

Voldemort had wanted him out because he was Katauri. He wanted Hermione out because she was Harry Potter's Best friend.

He wanted Mara to shape into his own weapon.


	9. Bamboozzled

A/N: Apparently I'm on a roll today. Two chapters within a 24 hour period is VERY good for me. Thanks to Sapphire whose been reading as I write and helping me keep a few things consistant.

* * *

Chapter Nine:

There were certain things a Malfoy was not supposed to have happen to them. One of them, Draco was sure, was to come home and find out that while you had been out, your wife had given birth and the entire clan had decided on your house to get ready.

Why couldn't his children wait a couple of hours? They had been two weeks over due anyway, what were a few hours?

Granted there was a side of him that was cursing various people for putting the situation out there that required him to go somewhere where Owl post was likely to not go. They had gotten back in the very early hours of the morning (and dear god, couldn't everyone go so he could sleep?) and were instantly surrounded by various Weasleys and faux-Weasleys.

Luckily Zara, the medic of the family, had noticed that not all was well and had sent Blaise to bed with a restorative potion that had a sleeping ingredient added in. Hermione had taken the newly released Mara and gone with him to watch over. Apparently helping two children in the world had put Hermione in a better state of mind. He wasn't stupid enough to think that things would be fine and dandy between the two, but surely it showed that there was a chance.

He watched his children, amused. They were adorable. He wouldn't let anyone see him see him look at him like this (he had a reputation you know) but he knew already that these two would be his world, even more then Ginny already was.

Jordy looked like him, but more girly. She looked to have his eyes, they were blue grey now instead of blue. The hair on top of her hair was white blonde at the moment and certainly hoped it would stay that way.

Ginny had dressed her in silver and green. Good girl.

Adrian was dressed in Gryffindor colors although the outfit didn't quite fit him. He had a puff of reddish hair on top of his head and Draco had no idea what his eye color was. Unlike his sister, Adrian apparently was a sound sleeper and had not opened his eyes once for his father.

The babies were so small, even for two weeks overdue. They fit into the same crib, although he was sure he would have to buy everything in duplicate in the next couple of days to make up for not knowing that there were two of them. After all, the female carried the genes for twins and Ginny's family was known for having them (Molly's brothers had been twins, if he remembered correctly).

He loved them already. He hadn't expected that. Sure, he had heard that for most everyone love for one's children was automatic and instantaneous but he hadn't expected how much his heart felt for those two small bundles.

Ginny was asleep on the Bed on the other side of the room. Everyone except the Granger-Zabini family and Fred and Zara had left. Zara had wanted to make sure Blaise was ok in the morning and help Ginny adjust to motherhood. Ron had rushed home to Kelly. He was probably a little spooked by being in Pansy's house. Pansy hadn't been that subtle that she still liked him and he probably had to see his wife and prove to himself that he had it good.

Draco sighed and with one final look at his angels, he walked over to the bed and lay beside his wife.

Why couldn't things just stay good for everyone?

* * *

Hermione watched Blaise in wonderment. Why hadn't she noticed that he hadn't been sleeping well when they were together? Watching him now, sleeping the deep sleep that came with being drugged, his nocturnal habits from before the break up came to her mind and she noticed a stark difference.

Humming softly she placed Mara in the crib she had transfigured from one of the drawers of Ginny's old dresser set the Draco wanted to get rid of but Ginny had kept 'because we'll need it someday'.

She could remember Blaise waking up so easily when she hadn't been able to sleep that one night. Had he been having the dreams that night? Why had she been so caught up in her own doubts and worries that she hadn't noticed he wasn't sleeping as well as he used to?

Then there was the night that he had left. The way he looked in the kitchen, how he had looked at her like he had never seen such a wonderful sight. He must have had a dream that night. She could remember him telling her some of it.

The boys hadn't been too clear as to where they had gone, but whatever it was that happened had shaken Blaise up pretty badly and Draco had been subdued as well. Ron had been acting odd, but once she heard that they had seen Pansy she had understood. He had stolen Kelly away and she was pretty sure he was assuring his faithfulness once more.

Ron had once told her what had come about when they had ended things. Ron had had his heart broken by Parkinson and hadn't really been with anyone when he had met Kelly. They had been almost fresh out of Hogwarts, and Kelly had come to England for a fashion show and happened to met Fleur who had introduced her to the Weasley family. Kelly had instantly zeroed in on Ron and had worked him back into normal behavior. He had fallen in love with her and Hermione could remember how happy he was when the got married. She had never doubted their relationship.

Kelly had introduced Harry and Nicole, and those two had gotten married within a month, surprising everyone. Molly Weasley had been upset, having had a dream of him marrying her little girl. Oddly enough Ginny was the happiest for them. Everyone had turned to her but she had denied any relationship.

She sighed. Had Blaise felt like she did the morning before when she kept telling her best friends and her adopted family that she wasn't involved with anyone? He had never said anything, not pushing her or anything. But she should have said something when he basically moved in. Before that it was just a friendly way of getting rid of tension and a way of feeling alive again. Afterwards they were a couple, she could see that now. Yet, she still claimed she was not with anyone.

Apparently, that had fooled no one though. Kelly had mentioned to her once that Ron had been the first to figure it out. Ron wasn't as oblivious as he pretended to be sometimes. She recognized the signs of everyone knowing looking back now. How about a year before Voldemort was killed, Molly had started inviting Blaise to the family dinners. Harry had invited Blaise to join him and Ron for some a game of quidditch to bring some levity to their lives. Ron had taken Blaise aside for a game of chess. Blaise had come back with a strange smile on his face and Ron had looked pleased. She had only found out after he moved out that Ron had given him 'the speech'.

She laughed silently to herself as she lay beside Blaise on the bed. Ron's 'speech' was interesting to say the least. She moved so she could watch Blaise sleep. He looked so innocent. Smiling she moved a piece of hair off his face. He had been growing it out a little in the past six months they hadn't been together. He had grown it long in school, but had gotten it cut after it had been used by a Death Eater and became a liability.

"'Mione?" Blaise's was sleepy and she knew full well he couldn't be fully awake. But something made her heart warm when he pulled her to him and buried his head in her neck. He held onto her as if he didn't want her to ever go away. Whatever it was that he heard at Pansy Parkinson's had scared him.

"Blaise." She said in response, smooth her hands down his back in a calming manner. "I'm here." She could feel him calming down slightly. She had remembered nights like this, more often as the months had gone by and those dreams she now knew he had getting worse.

"Don't leave."

"I won't."

"Good. Can't loose you or Mara." Hermione leaned and kissed his head as he moved slightly to allow her more room. He still held her close, but now she could get under the sheets. "I love you, you know that right?"

"I think I do, even though it doesn't seem like you do sometimes."

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable about what Auntie was saying."

"I wasn't," Hermione responded. "I just hadn't expected it. It seems like everyone knew you were going to ask me to marry you but me, and yet at the same time it seemed like you were playing of us."

"I do want to marry you, Hermione. I just don't want to marry you because everyone expects us to. I want you to be sure that's what you want." Hermione thought back to what Ginny had stated about how his mother's constant remarrying might have effected her son. Surely the rumors of her Black-widow status had reached him in school.

"I'm not sure what I want right now, Blaise, but I do know I want us to try. I want us to be family; you, Mara and I."

"I want that too."

* * *

"Ron, are you alright?" Kelly said as she snuggled next to her husband. "What happened tonight?" He sighed and turned to her, allowing her closer to him before he spoke.

"Neville had information about how Blaise had been available to the Dark Lord's manipulation. We went to further look into the matter."

"There's no easy solution is there?"

"Is there ever? No, apparently Marcus Flint had given his cousin the family ring in his will and the ring had somehow gotten to the Dark Lord first. When Blaise wore it, it would give Voldemort passage past the defenses he had learned in school. We are not sure how Voldemort manipulated it that way but it has something to do with the Spencer family being Katauri"

"Katauri?"

"I'm not sure what that means. Draco said he'd explain tomorrow."

"Is that really what is bothering you." Ron sighed.

"We had to go see Marcus' widow."

"Oh." Kelly said. "Pansy."

"Yeah."

"You still have feelings for her?"

"Yes, and no." He turned to her and lifted her chin so he was looking into her eyes. "I love you, never forget that. You are the one for me and I'll never betray that. But that doesn't mean I don't have something left of what I felt for her. It made me uncomfortable and I need to put myself back where I felt best."

"With me."

"With You."

* * *

"Zara, come to bed." Fred leaned against his sister's kitchen doorway as he watched his wife make more potions to give to Blaise in the morning. He knew something was bothering her. While she was very diligent with helping people, making the potion could have waited till later. After all it was almost dawn and she hadn't slept in at least twenty hours. Zara had been overworking herself and he was worried.

"I'm almost done," she stated with a smile in his direction. "I just want to make sure this is done. It's most effective if it's given time to sit." Fred sighed and walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her.

"The twins hit you harder then you expected didn't they?" She paused and put down the pistil she had in her hand. They had been trying to have a child for a couple years and he knew she was frustrated with the fact she may not be able to have any. Yet, in the last year everyone seemed to be having children around them and it made it harder to get over that fact.

"Do you think I'm a bad person for letting the jealousy get a little above the happiness for my friends?"

"No, you're just human and this is something personal. I'm sure everyone understands and most don't even notice that you feel that way. I just know you better them and saw the signs." He paused and decided to let her know. "I got a note from the agency today." She turned around and looked at him in surprise.

"You did? What did they say?"

"We can come down next week and look at the children there." She smiled and he noticed her eyes becoming a little shiny. "If all goes well we could be officially parents by the end of next month." She smiled a full smile now. "Now if we could only get George married," he joked. She rolled her eyes and swatted him on the shoulder. He was glad her mood had changed.

"You two are still hoping to have children in the same year at Hogwarts to carry on your legend aren't you?" She turned back to finish the potion and clear away her tools and ingredients.

"Well, of course, m'dear." He started helping her put away her stoneware that she preferred to use. "Hey, did you understand what Draco said about Katauri? Does that have something to do with this potion your giving him?" She sighed.

"Yes, I know what he was talking about," She stated, turning to her husband. "It has nothing to do with the potion. He's just been running himself rigid trying to forget his relationship with Hermione is falling apart."

"Are you going to make me wait till tomorrow to learn about what Katauri means?"

"Yes, because that is something we should explain only once. It's a long story and now it is not the time for it. Believe me, it will be better if you wait."

* * *

Next chapter: We learn what Katauri really is, and the trio get working on solvign the problem...just like the good old days ;)


	10. Family Practices

Chapter Ten: 

Hermione wasn't sure how she had managed to do it, but she had managed to walk half asleep across the room as Mara cried. Perhaps it was maternal instinct because if you asked her later she didn't remember getting out of bed. All she could remember is becoming fully awake holding her infant daughter trying to figure out why Mara was crying.

Once she figured out her daughter was hungry, she reached into the diaper bag Ginny had bought her and got a bottle out. Due to the fact that Mara had been born so prematurely, she hadn't really had a chance to do breast feeding and by now it was too late to start her daughter on that. So she walked back to the bed, daughter in one arm, the other holding the bottle and sat down beside the still sleeping Blaise. She began to feed Mara while she waited for Blaise to wake up.

He woke up a few minutes later, just as she was finishing with the feeding Mara. He smiled lazily up at her, the effects of a drugged sleep still apparent.

"Morning," he murmured, reaching up to play with his daughter's hand as Hermione finished burping her. She laid the baby in between them. It was really the first time the three of them had been together in the same room since Mara had been born. Before either one of them had been leaving or they had missed each other completely.

"She's got your nose," Hermione whispered, watching Blaise and Mara. Blaise looked up and smiled, probably one of the first true smiles she had seen in years. She felt sad and old at that moment. The war was taking so much out of them and while the main target was now dead, that didn't mean the battle was over yet.

"If she's lucky, she'll grow out of that," He joked. The sleepiness had finally worn away and he looked better then he had the day before. Hermione just smiled back at him, silently disagreeing with him. Mara did have his nose, but apparently she took after her mother more in other areas. She had started to grow hair and it was already a curly mess. Her eyes were brown and Hermione thought she could see a freckle on her nose. However, her skin was slightly darker, inheriting her father's Mediterranean heritage.

She was perfect.

"She'll be a Slytherin, you know," Blaise commented.

"What makes you think she won't make it into Gryffindor?"

"She's our daughter, that's why. She'll be as smart as you, but as conning as me."

"I'm cunning!" Blaise laughed.

"Sure, when you need to be. That's really what the difference is between Slytherins and Gryffindors, you know. Gryffindors are brave; they go right into a situation while Slytherins figure out a way around a situation that would have put them in such a position as to be brave. But we can be just as brave as a Gryffindor when we need to be. And Gryffindors can think around blunt attack if they need to."

"We compliment each other?" Hermione asked with a raised brow.

"I guess so. Too bad no one really sees it that way." He looked back down and Mara and made a face that caused the little girl to giggle. "I think that is why we fight so often. Houses in general. Because in a way, we are the same, we just go about things in an opposite way."

"I've heard rumors that this is really just the result over the fight over a woman." Hermione mentioned lying back and closing her eyes, her arm next to the baby's to keep from rolling over.

"Ah, yes. The great fight over Rowena Ravenclaw. You know, _Hogwarts: A History_ never tells you who won."

"Maybe she ran off with one of the staff." Hermione said with a smile.

"Well, both Godric and Salazar from my research married other people. Salazar had a line of wizards that ultimately led to Voldemort and I hadn't gotten too far in researching Godric's line of succession or for that matter Helga's." Blaise had been planning on writing a paper after school on the history of the four founders and their magical linage. It had come out of an essay he wrote on pureblood policies which Dumbledore had thought very interesting. In fact, it was Dumbledore who had given him the idea of going into non-fiction writing. "Rowena's line was lost. No one knows if she just never had a child or if she hid the child from public record."

"Well, I could certainly understand her not wanting to have to deal with either one of them. Slytherin and Gryffindor seemed like they were both idiots sometimes."

"Probably." Blaise answered with a laugh. "We probably should get up. I'm sure everyone wants to know what went on yesterday." His tone was not as light as it was a moment ago, and while Hermione had picked up on that fact she said nothing. She would get the story in a little while. She could wait.

* * *

Draco had some house elves prepare the formal dinning room for everyone to have a buffet brunch since it was near midday before anyone got out of bed. People began to arrive around 11:30 and with Blaise and Hermione being the last to awake the meeting began around noon. 

Even Pansy and her brood had arrived. A nurse house elf had taken the small children off of their mother and whisked them away to the nursery where the three infants were staying while their parents were occupied with matters of war.

"Everyone now knows that Pansy went to Neville the other day to discuss her suspicions involving Blaise's manipulation by the Dark Lord several months ago." Pansy, not really all that happy to be there raised her glass of champagne to show everyone who may not know who she was…well, who she was. She was drinking because if she had to watch Ron be all happy with his wife, she was going to do it while loopy. Draco knew her enough to know she wouldn't get drunk, not with her children around.

"Essentially, the item in question is Blaise's family ring, which he has been wearing since his cousin Marcus died a year and a half ago. From what Pansy has heard from various groups that had been in her home, this ring had somehow found its way into Voldemort's hands and he managed to use it to get past Blaise's defenses once it came into his procession." Draco didn't have to mention that this possibly was how Voldemort had figured out that Marcus had been a double agent as well as Severus Snape. Marcus had been killed by Bellatrix who in return had been killed by Peter Pettigrew of all people. Severus had been attacked, and had almost done had he not been found by Zara and Hermione soon after. Even then, he still was at St Mungos in a coma.

"Why would Voldemort focus on a piece of jewelry?" Percy Weasley asked from his spot in the back of the room, next to his pregnant wife Penelope. Apparently Penny had taken on the task of matching her mother-in-law in the number of children. This would be their fourth. Frankly Draco thought they were insane.

"It's the Katauri ring." Looking around he saw that everyone had a blank look with the exception of Blaise, Antoine, Pansy, Zara and Fred.

"Blaise is Katauri?" Zara asked. Zara was well versed in many of the ancient families, having done research in older medical methods they could rely on. Fred must have found out by proxy.

"Yes, I am." Hermione looked at her ex-boyfriend in confusion. "As is Mara and Pansy's children." Zara nodded thoughtfully. Blaise decided to take this time to continue Draco's briefing.

"The Spencer family was once apart of a magical guild known as the Katuari. These were wizards and witches who were born with gifts the either were not found outside the group or were something ordinary wizards would have to work very hard to achieve. Things such as wandless magic, anigmagus transfiguration, teleportation, Soul keeping, and empathy. I myself have had the ability to transfigure into a panther since the time I was about five years old." Eyes opened wide at this. "My mother had the ability to see the future, although she was also cursed with paranoia due to the same gift. Marcus had the ability to look as whatever he wanted, similar to a Metamorphmagus although his extended to other forms then human." He paused as everyone absorbed that information.

"We also have minor abilities that are usually strengthened by the wearing of the ring, although usually it needs a concentrated effort to do so. I can't say I know more of the history of Katauri, only what it meant for me."

"There are very few books with information on the Katuari," Zara added. "I was researching their healing abilities and the 'Soul Keeper' when I was doing my paper on old healing magic. I believe I still have a resource or two we can use, but most of the research will have to be done elsewhere."

"I have a pass to the Stonehenge collection of resources," Hermione commented. "If we need to research, I will certianlly start there."

"I think that would be a good course of action right now," Neville said as he joined the conversation. "Since none of those present know much about why, besides the obvious, Blaise would be targetted. Perhaps he had some intel that would make a Katauri a formable weapon." The crowd nodded. The room fell silent as the various people thought about how they would go about looking for the information they would need.

"Blaise, do you still have access to your family's archives in Italy?" The Zabini was one of the oldest families in Italy and could very possibly have old texts that the rest of Europe had lost in their archives. He nodded to Zara.

"Yes, I'll get Aunt Flora to let you in. I'll join up with Hermione at Stonehenge. Pansy might have acess to the Spencer libraries in Kent." He looked over at her and she nodded slowly. "They may have information as well.

Soon everyone was paired up in groups to go research. The trio and their significant others were to go to Stonehedge. Zara and Fred would go to the Zabini archives while George and Pansy would search the Spencer Library. Others would use their various contacts to get as much information about the Katauri as they could.

* * *

"Doesn't this seem familiar," Ron grumbled as Hermione pilled books in front of him. Harry mumered his aggrement, still looking half asleep. He jumped slightly when his wife Nicole sat down another pile of books in front of their spot a the table. 

"I think this will be fun," Kelly stated with a grin. "I remember doing research with my friends back in school. We would always find the weirdest tidbits while researching. For example, do you know that in the US, ferrets kill four people every year."

"What on earth would lead you to research ferrets?" Ron asked as a moment past with the entire table staring at his wife.

"Well, that particular one wasn't part of research. I just had a friend, Jessica. You should remember her…she was at our wedding with the strange Canadian guy. Anyway, she had a crush on a muggle anchor and he had a show on animal attacks because some idiot decided to live with the bears and after a year or so died from a bear attack. And one of the facts on animal attacks is that four people die each year because of Ferrets."

"How exactly," Blaise began after a pause, "would a ferret kill someone?" They all began to come up with extragous ideas as they started to open their books and research the Katauri Guild.

* * *

I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but it felt right to end it there. 

A/N: The Katauri Guild is something I stole from my one SGA fic, although it's mutated quite a bit. Also, this is the chapter where I become a Mary Sue in my own fic as Kelly's American friend with a crush on Anderson Cooper. I probably won't be mentioned in this fic again, so don't blink : ). Most of that is true except that this is a HP fic and therefore some is false to connect it. The Ferret factiod is true and something that has become a injoke amongst my friends. I love ferrets although I probably will never own one due to allergies. Points to anyone who can guess who the strange Canadian guy is.


	11. Eugenics and Tattoos

Chapter 11:

Draco was starting to wonder if agreeing to be the director of information had been such a good thing to agree to. Everyone had thought it best that someone in a central location be there to collect the information each group gathered and record it and pass around what everyone needed to know. With Ginny and Draco still not up to full strength (Ginny especially now that she had just given birth less then 24 hours before) they had been chosen to be that central station.

He felt useless. He preferred being right in the situation, not back in the shadows waiting. Ginny was only slightly appeased as well. The fact that she had her infant children to take care of kept her busy and not thinking about how she could be helping the research effort. There was also Mara. Pansy had taken her children with her as none of them were familiar with the group and she didn't want to have them worried and upset.

He had to admit he thought the idea of George and Pansy doing research kinda funny. He supposed after thinking about it that the Twins had to do a lot of research while creating products for their store. Pansy he knew from experience hated research. She'd rather just read what someone had to say about something and go from there. Actually pulling the information was too tedious for her.

At least George was good with children. They'd have a hard time researching with the three mini-Flints around.

* * *

"I hate researching." Pansy commented. George ignored her. She had been stating that fact for the last half hour as they sorted through the Spencer Library. Apparently they had not organized their books and other texts in any sort of order recognized by modern wizards. "You'd think this would already be done, considering how old this information is. You'd think someone would have already researched this. I mean, look at the muggles! They have thousand of books of research on the same thing. We can't even get a paper done on pureblood eugenics and that's ready information." George raised an eyebrow at that last statement.

"Pureblood eugenics?"

"What, you didn't know Blaise was writing a paper on it? Well, he was," she finished when he shook his head no. "He wanted to understand how the hatred of muggles started and what went into the pureblood thinking when it came to continuing the line. Most purebloods are related, I think Blaise and Draco's family were about the last to join into the English pureblood gene pool. You should know this, being pureblood yourself you know."

"Well, my family wasn't exactly planning on marrying our cousins to keep the bloodline pure, you know."

"Neither has the Parkinson family. We only marry fifth cousins or more. They are basically the same as someone not related you know, with the different genes. Blaise's paper was very interesting. I much prefer reading that to researching it. You should read it."

"Maybe sometime. But we need to look this up so Blaise can live long enough to write the book."

"True enough, I was just stating my thoughts." She glanced over to where her three children had fallen asleep, making sure nothing was wrong. "I'm surprised they are asleep." George looked over at them at their mention.

"Well, from what I've heard it's been an eventful couple of days."

"Yeah, hopefully this won't affect them."

"What do you mean?"

"Besides the fact that if the Death Eaters my brother works with find out I was passing information to the Order like my husband did when he was alive, they'll do the same. I asked Neville to put them under protective care and he's working on it. Till then they go everywhere I go."

"You should take them to the Barrow. It's about as protected as anywhere and My mom wouldn't mind. She's so giddy about grandchildren right now."

"I noticed," Pansy said with a smile as she opened the dusty volume in front of her. "She seemed very excited about the twins. How many grandchildren does she have now?"

"Five, with one on the way. Three from Percy and the twins."

"I'm surprised Bill and Fleur haven't had any children. Or any of your other brothers for that matter."

"Well, Fleur wants them, but with Bill and her schedules…well it's not easy to be together long enough." She smirked a little at his hiding what he really meant. She was also surprised that he was sharing this information with her. But then the few times she had interacted with the family when she and Ron had been involved they had all been very kind towards her. "She's a little peeved at the moment," he said with a laugh. "She wanted to be the first to have a grandchild but both Ginny and Penny have beaten her to it.

"Charlie never married, Percy is trying to 'go out and multiply'. Ron and Kelly didn't want to bring children into the world when there was a good chance either one of them would be dead the next day. They might consider it now that things have lightened up a bit."

"And Fred?" she asked, trying not to wince at the thought of Kelly and Ron's children. She really needed to get over that. Find a nice man who would love her children. He would have to be a wizard. She might not be for killing them off, but that didn't mean she liked muggles anymore then the next pureblood.

"That's a sensitive subject for him and Zara." She paused in her reading to look at him. He was going through a book of his own and had a sad look on his face. "The mediwitches can't find anything particularly wrong with either one of them, but for some reason they haven't been able to have any children. I think they are going to give up on having one of their own soon and go to adoption. Fred was looking into that the other day."

"Defiantly enough orphans out there," she said quietly. "Zara would make a great mother; she has the patience for it."

"Yeah, she does."

"Why haven't you married, George? I have to say I was surprised when your brother eloped and you didn't."

"We don't have to do everything together, you know." Pansy blinked at the anger in that statement. She hadn't expected him to be annoyed by her observation.

"Well, of course not. But you two usually do."

"Well, we didn't that time." She wondered if George was angry because he was still alone, angry that Zara took have his brother's attention or if George had loved Zara himself and was angry with his brother for marrying her.

"Do you like Zara like he does?"

"What?" He looked up at her with an odd look. "No, I don't love Zara. Well, I do, but I'm not in love with her if that's what your implying."

"Then why did you get so angry when I asked you why you didn't get married yourself."

"Because sometimes it's annoying to be assumed to be the second half of Fred-and-George," he answered honestly. "Sometimes it would be nice to be just George."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For making you feel like I felt that way."

"It's our own bloody fault," George said waving her apology off. "Doing so much together made everyone just assume and be right." He sighed. "I haven't got married because I'm not ready after Alicia to get involved with anyone else."

"Did she die in the war?"

"No, she left me for Terrance Higgs about three years ago. I'm over it now, but it's still doesn't make having a serious relationship appealing." She wondered at that. He was very reveling tonight.

"Marcus was in love with Katie Bell, did you know that?" she asked. She felt like she needed to confess something to him in return for him telling so much of himself. He raised an eyebrow.

"Really now? He never seemed to show that particular emotion to Katie."

"Well, he was. She was the reason he ultimately choose to work for Dumbldore. He wanted to make himself worthy of her. We were planning on getting a divorcee after the war was over. It was too dangerous to do so during."

"Wait…if you planned that, why did you continue to have kids?"

"Only the oldest is really mine if you must know. We had to have one child to prove to our fathers that we were serious about continuing the line. The younger two are from another relationship Marcus had. Their mother is died now."

"Again, that doesn't' really say he loved Katie any if he was cheating on you with yet another girl."

"That girl was Katie." He blinked.

* * *

"So Katuari could originate with astronomy," Hermione commented to Blaise as they searched for various possibilities. "Taurus is a constellation. Perhaps it has something to do with that."

"Perhaps," he agreed. "Although my family hasn't been very interested in Astronomy."

"Well, the only other Tauri reference I could find was a bunch of people who liked to bash people's heads in and then decapitate them in honor of their Goddess."

"Well, then. Perhaps we should start with astronomical options then go for the violent natives of wherever."

"The Black Sea. They were involved with the Greek Empire. Disappeared from what I have read."

"Perhaps that was an early evolution of the Guild. It could be inspiration for Voldemort too if you think about it."

"Yes, but the fact you're given special abilities has nothing to do with being violent and warlike."

"Well, we can't throw anything out. Copy it to one of the notebooks just in case." Hermione nodded and with a quick wave of her wand, she transferred the information from the book to the notebook she had brought with her.

"Hermione," Blaise started when she was done. She looked back over at him, finding him leaning against the shelf across from her, looking hesitant. "What are we right now?"

"What do you mean?" She knew what he meant, and he knew that too, standing up with a huff of frustration.

"Are we just friends, or do we still have the possibility of having something more?" he asked, not wanting to argue with whether she knew what he was speaking of before or not."

"I would…I would like it if we could have more," she responded looking away. "But I'm not sure if we can give each other the trust we need to have that."

Blaise sighed. At least that was a maybe.

* * *

"Finding anything?" Ron asked Kelly as he tossed another book into the pile of 'not helpful.'

"Not really. This isn't even about anything close. Apparently someone misfiled this one," She stated holding up the file she had been going through. "It's about some American producer who died by accidental gun shot. Actually kind of interesting. It was his birthday and he got shot because his friend was after some other guy for sleeping with his girlfriend and the shot went wide or something and killed the birthday boy."

"Wow…Remind me never to complain about my birthday parties."

"Will do," she said with a smile as she put away the file on Thomas Ince and picked up another file. "Have you find out anything?"

"No," he said with a sigh, laying his head down on the book in front of him. "Hermione might have. She and Blaise seem to be the most successful but then again they were at the top of the class in Hogwarts and probably have a system down for this kind of thing." Just as he said that he noticed something in the book he had been laying on.

_**Katauri Guild:** A faction of pureblood families who believed themselves the descendants of Merlin himself. The name originates from two words…Kappa, the tenth letter in the Greek alphabet, and Taurus, which is a star constellation. There are two stars with the name Kappa Tau but guilds relation to the binary star is unknown. However, there are have been cases where the symbol representing that system have been burned into the forearm of the members. This practice seems to loose relevance during the late 1600s and it is unknown if the Guild itself has disbanded or wither they have chosen a less conspicuous form of membership._

"Ah…I think I may have found something," he stated as he looked over at Kelly.


	12. Family history, and Coma Patients

Chapter Twelve:

Molly Weasley did not know why she went every week, every Tuesday to see him. She had no real connections with him. He was too young to have gone to school with him, had been raised in a different social structure and she didn't really associate with him when he taught her sons. But something kept her coming, asking the nurses around if anyone had been in to see them besides her self and his godsons. Only once had the answer been anything other then negative.

It made her sad that he really had no one to care for him. His parents were dead, as far as she knew he had never had a wife or significant other who would care, and his godsons were either dead, or trying to keep themselves from dying. Whoever the women was who came to see him that one day, she hadn't come again and the nurses and medi-witches could not remember her name.

So Molly Weasley became the caretaker of one Severus Snape. She would come every Tuesday, at precisely 2 in the afternoon and talk to him of current events while she worked on a sweater for one of the members of her growing family. Occasionally Zara would join her if she had time for a break, but for the most part she was alone in these hour long visits.

"Good Afternoon, Severus. You're looking less pale today. That's good. I know there was a good reason to put you near a window. I have some good news. Draco and Ginny have had twins! A girl and a boy. Draco's already insisting that his children will be Slytherin, you'd be proud of his house loyalty. Ginny says Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. I hope Ravenclaw because then they can break both molds.

"Blaise is doing better. I was so worried about the dear boy for awhile. He and Hermione are still not doing too well, but I'm sure that one day they'll figure it out. Used to think she'd make a fine daughter-in-law but now that I think about it she makes a better daughter to me then an in-law and her and Blaise do well together.

"Pansy, Marcus Flint's widow, is back in the picture. I know you may have liked the girl, but I still hold reservations on how she treated my youngest son. I suppose all things happen for a reason, since if she hadn't treated him so poorly when they broke up, he would never have gone with Fleur to that fashion show and would never have met Kelly, who is just a dear. Granted, I'm sure she wouldn't have been on your likable list as she is a muggleborn, an American and not to mention does not at all do well when potions are concerned. However she's a genius at charms." Molly paused, thinking she heard a noise, but when it wasn't repeated for awhile, she continued to speak.

"Do you remember my daughter-in-law Zara? She is the mediwitch assigned to you. She's off today, helping the boys figure out a puzzle. Ka-tar-re or something like that. Didn't quite understand that. But anyway, there is talk of promoting her. Her strength in ancient medical spells is quite extraordinary. I' m quite glad my son married her. With the amount of injuries those boys get developing their products; they need a good healer with them." Molly heard the noise again and stopped. Looking at her companion she noticed that his eyes under the lids were moving quite quickly. Concerned she started calling for a medic, hoping this was a sign that Serevus would wake up, because goodness knows that would be a good thing.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Draco commented after Blaise and company arrived back at his house. "The Katauri were a group of people who took some ancient letter and a constellation as their name which they may or may not have been involved with and started the whole marking thing."

"Basically, although Hermione and I managed to go a step further," Blaise answered. Draco rolled his eyes. Of course they did. Good most of the time but sometimes Blaise could be annoying with his 'one step further' deal. "The stars they may or may not have been involved with, Kappa Tau, has both letters of the Greek Alphabet beyond the constellation. Tau is a letter that basically represents the letter T, the number 300 or life. Whatever you prefer. Kappa means the letter K, the number 20 and by going back to its Phoenician roots Hermione managed to find out it represents Palm. So basically Kappa Tau could mean Palm of Life."

"The Katauri are the Palms of Life?"

"We think they might have had a leader they called the Palm of light, were referring to Merlin or the star system." Hermione paused. "Granted, it could have nothing to do with either one and they just wanted to make a name out of Greek letters and confuse everyone."

Everyone stared at her.

"Or maybe not."

"Whatever it is, this may give us a clue as to what Voldemort wants us for," Blaise continued. "It already appears he was influenced by the Guild when it came to a physical show of loyalty."

"He was a bit showy," Ron commented. "He should have kept with the same style the Katauri had. Could have used the symbol for Theta to symbolize death instead of an over the top snake tattoo that covered your full forearm. But I guess it makes more of a punch to have something that big that's hard to hide."

"Perhaps Voldemort wanted to claim linage from Merlin, thinking it would dissuade those who had waning support for him due to his half-blood status. Being related to Merlin might give him more clout in their eyes."

"Well, considering he doesn't really allow that to be an opinion secret, it's unlikely. Plus he would have just killed off those who decided to unsupported him. But we should keep it in mind anyway," Draco commented.

"Well, what if the 'Palm of Life; wasn't a person but a philosophy or spell. I remember Professor Snape discussing with us during our NEWT class that there was a potion called the "Palm of Life." I'll have to search through my notes to see if I can find anything else but I think it was a potion that was supposed protect someone or heal them. I think it was lost to the ages, but largely unused even when it was in practice due to the many side effects that grew out of it."

"Well, I'm not sure if your house will still be there when you back to collect your notes. There was heavy damage and the support could go," Ginny commented.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on going back to my house. I know full well that Ron and Harry have the same notes as me. They copied mine after all."

"Hey!" Ron said in mock outrage. "I did no such thing!" Hermione just smiled and Ron smiled back. It lighted the mood a little bit.

"So how are the other groups going?"

"Well, I haven't really heard back from anyone yet," Draco said. "It took some of them some time to get to their respective locations." He was about to say more when a house elf appeared and announced that Molly Weasley requested their presence and Mungos.

* * *

Dizzy.

Zara paused a second and waited for the dizziness to subside. She had been having dizziness for a couple of days now, but it usually went away quickly and only happened when she made sudden movements so she wasn't overly concerned. Fred was right; she was not sleeping as well as she should have.

Sighing, she turned back to the various papers she had in her hand and walked to the table where Fred was already searching through what he had found. At least he hadn't noticed her dizzy spell. He was worried about her and she knew it was only because he cared for her but it could be annoying as hell sometimes.

Magic made finding stuff so much easier. A simple accio spell and all the relevant data depending on the mental component would come right to you, or at least make sure they are known on the shelves so you can get them.

Her father had taught her the spell before he died. He knew she was researching ancient healing techniques and it was something a good friend had taught him to make researching a little easier.

"Something wrong?" Zara looked up at her husband who had a concerned look on his face.

"Why would there be something wrong?"

"You have that look on your face." She sighed.

"I was just thinking of Dad. I miss him." Fred moved his chair closer to her and leaned in for a hug. She smiled at him; it did make her feel a little better. "I'm not sure why I'm getting so emotional about it now."

"Well, it took awhile to sink in, I suppose." He paused and made her look at him. "He'd be proud of you, you know. Probably would be very vocal about wondering why you aren't head of Mungos by now." She laughed. She kissed him on the check and quietly thanked him for improving her mood before going back to her research.

The files she had in front of her were probably her best results yet. It was a family tree of the Katauri Guild line. She had the most recent members, which curiously included Hermione Granger. And not as a significant other of a Katauri. As a descendant herself.

If Fred found this surprising, he didn't say anything. But she could tell he was intrigued. Why would a muggleborn be part of an organization known for being pureblood? Zara tapped her wand to Hermione's name and the others except for the line that contained her name disappeared off the page.

Through Hermione's mother the line led back centuries, and Zara figured out that these were all muggles till about a thousand or so years back where one was a squib. However it was that Squib's parents that left the two of them in shock.

* * *

"_Heno, heno, hen blant bach,  
Heno, heno, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach._

Hermione smiled as she rocked her daughter to sleep singing one of the songs her mother had song to her as a child. Things were quiet right now, with only her and Mara in the room that Draco had converted into a nursery for them while they stayed at the Manor. Everyone else was at the hospital except for Blaise, Ginny and Herself.

_Gwely, gwely, hen blant bach,  
Gwely, gwely, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach. _

Fory, fory, hen blant bach,  
Fory, fory, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach,  
Dime, dime, dime, hen blant bach.

"I never knew you spoke Welsh." Blaise said from his place where had been leaning for the last verse." She blushed, slightly embarrassed of her singing. Singing to her child was one thing, the child wouldn't care one way or another wither his mother had horrible voice. However, singing in front of 'Daddy' was another thing altogether.

"Not really. I just remember that from when I was little. My mother grew up in Wales. I should learn the language though. It's beautiful."

"I think so too, especially with you singing it." He smiled as she blushed again and walked over to his small family. "I was thinking about our conversation from earlier." Hermione sighed and went to put their daughter in her crib. If they were going to have this conversation again, they were going to do it where they couldn't bother Mara. Silently she led him into their room, which now adjoined this one.

"I love you," he began as he closed the door behind them. They weren't worried about not hearing her. Ginny had bought several of the muggle baby monitors when she had been on a baby supply spree and had given a pair to the couple. "I want us to be together, and I understand that we really need to get over our trust issues, but I've been thinking."

"And?"

"Why didn't you trust me?" He didn't need to say what, she knew he was talking about telling him she was pregnant.

"I wasn't sure where we stood. I was stressed and stupid and didn't know whether either of us would make it past the next day." She didn't mention she wasn't sure how her friends would react. She had found out since they broke up originally that her friends had been fine with the relationship, and had even known for months beforehand.

"I never actually distrusted you Hermione. I was the one I distrusted. I didn't trust my resolve and ability to fight him off. I had no idea how long we would still be fighting him so I left to protect you in case I failed."

"So you go to my best friend's house? Which by the way defeats you're reasoning the night you left."

"It was a onetime stop. I planned on going to my house in the morning but it was early in the morning and I needed some kind of sleep. I knew you were pregnant and while you're a great witch and can hold your own, I'd rather have to find Ron fighting me off then you right then." He sighed. "Nicholas was driven insane by Voldemort," he mentioned quietly. Hermione started at that. Blaise rarely if ever spoke of his younger brother. In fact, they forgot about Nicholas Zabini most of the time. It was one of the most tragic events of the war when he died.

"How do you know this?"

"In one of the battles soon before Voldemort's death I ran into Warrington. He gloated about it, how the Dark Lord had used the imperious curse on him and then crutatius repeatedly. He went insane before the Dark Lord decided to stop playing games and kill him off." Hermione closed her eyes. Blaise's frantic belief that if he stayed he would harm her made more sense now. And it again showed the cruelty that Voldemort and his lackeys embodied.

"Oh, gods I'm sorry." She walked over and wrapped her arms around him. "That explains a little," she stated after awhile. "But I still think we should take things slow."

"I didn't say that to make you agree with me. I said that so you would understand what I did."

"And I do."

"I want you to love me," his voice quiet. He peered down at her, the question in his eyes.

"I love you." She smiled and stood up a little taller and kissed him. A very good place to start.

* * *

An: The song that Hermione sings is called Heno, Heno/Tonight, Tonight if you want to google for the lyrics. I don't actually know any welsh but I wanted something traditionally from the UK and I found this site on children's songs from the UK and I love the Welsh language (if only for it's history) so I put it in here in welsh. I'd put the link up but apparently these document editers here like to delete links and I'm too lazy to put it up with spaces in it.

And points to whoever can guess Zara's dad.


	13. Family Connections

Severus Snape was peeved. Not only did he find out he had been in a coma for a couple of years, he found out he was being cared by the daughter of one of his most hated peers and her mother-in-law was his only visitor because his god sons were either dead or trying not to die.

There was no explanation as to why he had chosen this time to awake from the coma. Apparently sometimes a person just woke up. Frankly he was starting to think his life was some story of some sort where the writer used him as a contrived plot twist. Whoever that person was should be hit over the bead with the beater bat.

"You can stop glaring now, Severus." Molly Weasley said as Zara took the last test.

"I don't see why I can't glare. I'm entitled." Zara snorted at his answer and he raised his eyebrow at her. Despite his dislike for her parents, her father in particular, he did like her. She had been a slytherin, and despite inheriting her father's style of mischief (something he always blamed on the influence of those twins of Weasley's.) had been one of his favorite students. It was nice to see she had succeeded in becoming a mediwitch and hadn't fallen into the trap so many slytherins fell into. After years of being expected to be a Death Eater, most ended up wondering if it would matter if they weren't. It was not a good piece of mind to have when facing the temptation.

"Seems your healthy, Professor," Zara stated as she read the results of the latest test. "Probably will need some physical therapy to help with muscle loss but otherwise your quite healthy for someone who was comatose just a few hours ago."

"Thank you." He really wanted to ask her what she was thinking marrying one of the twins, but figured it was probably not a good idea. Not only was Molly Weasley not a women to trifle with, Zara had her own temper, one not all that different then her idiot of a father. He'd rather not have those responsible for keeping him alive wanting to kill him.

He had always figured she would have married Adrian Pucey. They were good friends in school, and thankfully Pucey had renounced the Dark Lord. He was glad that some of his students had managed to see him for what he was and got the message he tried to instill.

He never would have guessed that she would have married Fred Weasley. While the two were good friends, Weasley had always seemed more attentive to Angelina Johnson and Zara seemed interested in Pucey. However, now that he thought about it, there were moments that may have hinted at the two becoming closer.

"So what have I missed?" He asked with a false smile on his lips. This time Zara raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing much. War, death, England lost the Quiddich match again, more death, and Voldemort is dead."

"Thank the gods for that small favor." Molly Weasley stated, echoing Severus sentiments.

"Draco and Ginny are parents of twins, Blaise and Hermione are parents of a little girl."

"What, did someone put something in the water? Next I'll be hearing that you've had a litter yourself."

"No, you don't have to worry about that," Zara said with a smile that clearly wasn't always there. He wondered about that because Zara typically didn't use forced emotion. Unless she was extremely mad and then she seemed to be very calm. In that instance you ran for your life if you were smart, or prepared for the tirade if you knew better then to run.

"I remember hearing some of the nurses discussing that you were assisting in the research of something with the Minster of Magic."

"Fudge retired last year. Well, retired was an overstatement. More like he was so unpopular at that time he felt it best he retire before he was forced out. Neville became minister.

"Longbottom? Neville Longbottom? Oh dear god we are going to all explode!"

"He's a better in legislature then in potions, Professor. You'd be surprised."

"I'm already am that someone would vote in the bumbling idi..." He didn't finish his word as Zara hit him with a pillow. He glared at his former student who just smiled at him, which irritated him further.

"Be nice Severus," Molly said with a smile. He sighed. Why did he have to get these two?

* * *

When she had kissed him, she had planned for it to be a simple kiss. Just something to start on. She should have known better. When it came to Blaise, she never had just a simple kiss. The man knew how to kiss and a woman would have to be an idiot not to take advantage of that fact when she could. So the simple kiss turned into what amounted to a make-out session.

It would have been more if the situation would have allowed it. In fact, before all was said and done, Hermione was already sans her t-shirt and Blaise on his way of loosing his. Her fingers where on his shoulders, prepared to take it off when someone entered the room, sputtered and went back out.

Granted, that did ruin the mood but Hermione couldn't help but laugh when she saw Fred's face. The poor boy hadn't expected the two to be together in the room and had taken it as a liberty to enter her room like he would his sister when they were back at the barrow.

Blaise apparently found it amusing as well, though probably not as much as Hermione did. But knowing that Fred probably had something important to tell them he quickly got over any embarrassment any of them had and asked Fred what it was that he wanted to tell them.

"We found a family tree of the Katauri Guild," Fred began showing them the paper. Draco and Ginny joined them just as they finished unfolding the large piece of paper over the table in the great dinning hall that Draco rarely used. "It appears that the founders were members of this group." He pointed to a spot where they were listed. "Apparently this paper is made to update as time goes by instead of being updated by anyone person."

"It has the missing Ravenclaw lines." Blaise said, interested. Why hadn't he thought to investigate his family's archives? He made a mental note to start doing so after this whole mess was dealt with. "There are two of them," he continued confused. One of which was connected to Slytherin.

"Yeah, we noticed that. The one child she had with Slytherin appears to be a squib which is totally ironic considering the father's views. But that's not the most surprising thing. This paper kept track of the line despite its lack of magical ability." Fred pointed to the end where two familiar names were written.

Hermione Jane Granger, Arienne Amarante Zabini.

Mara had another line directing to Blaise's name under the Spencer family line, but no one followed it, too surprised by Hermione's connection to _Slytherin_ of all people. Hermione looked shocked, Draco as well and Ginny looked as if she was about to laugh. If Voldemort had a grave, he'd be rolling in it.

"So Slytherin has another heir after all. But doesn't this mean Hermione's a half blood?" Ginny asked.

"Not necessarily," Blaise commented. "After all, there is enough distance between the magic part of the family and Hermione's immediate family that the genetic similarities would be hard to find. This does however bring a new thought into how magic is genetically handed down. It must be a recessive gene, one that can be hidden for so long. Zara would be able to explain better."

"Speaking of which, did any of you take a look at Ms. Ravenclaw's other line?" Draco asked an amused tone in his voice. The others moved the paper so that they were back at the top where Rowena's name was listed. While the father was not listed, they could instantly know who he was from looking at the name that was listed as Rowena's other child.

One Elizara Mallory Black-Weasley. That name brought them to another set of names towards the bottom. Ginny and Fred looked at each other before looking at the paper again. There stood all their names, all the siblings. Following the line they came across another founder's name.

"Hey," Draco stated laughing, "Looks like Potter's not the heir of Gryffindor anymore. Where is he when I have something to really laugh at him for?"

"Shut up, Draco." Ginny said with a sweet tone. "Or I'll give him something to laugh at you about."

"You wouldn't dare,"

"Oh, wouldn't I." She smiled a sweet smile, which Draco knew full well was not true. Ginny was not sweet. She had inherited a strong personality from her mother and he knew full well that She would do as she said if He didn't start treating Harry a little better.

"Well, today's a day of changes," Blaise said still staring at the paper. "Did Zara know about this?"

"No," Fred answered. "We came back here as soon as we saw Hermione's name and then she was whisked off to help Snape. Well, I suppose we know now why we were all placed in Gryffindor," he said with a smile in his sister's direction.

"Anyone else have a secret Founder relation?" Ginny asked jokingly. "Helga perhaps? We have a Slytherin-Ravenclaw hybrid that went into Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw-Gryffindor hybrid that got sorted into Slytherin. Interesting."

"Wait….if Zara's an actual child of Rowena Ravenclaw, doesn't that imply that she's still alive? Could the founders all be alive?"

"Ok….that's weird." Draco commented. "I wonder if my cousin knew he had been dating someone that much older then him."

"I've met Zara's mother," Fred stated. "She doesn't look a day over thirty. She always freaked me out with her knowing everything. It was like Hermione…only worse."

"Hey!" Hermione said with a grin. "I'm not too bad."

"Not against Zara's mother your not. The woman knows _everything_."

"Where do we find her?"

"She has a manor near the border of Wales and England. However given the time, we might want to wait till tomorrow."

"True enough. Plus we need to let everyone know the developments. Everyone's at the Hospital with Severus still. Molly is going to see if he can be cared for here at the manor," Ginny commented. "He might know something as well."


	14. What Your Mother Never Told You

Chapter Fourteen:

Draco's house elfs were just setting the table for dinner when Zara and Molly Weasley returned with Severus Snape to the manor. Due to his weakened state and the fact that all his possessions were currently being held by the Ministry (Neville had chosen this action to make sure it wasn't used as a refuge for remaining death eaters) he would also be becoming a member of what Draco joked was his commune, especially now that Pansy and her children would be staying there.

No one argued that point, although most agreed that this was the best method of keeping things together while they solved this problem. Once everyone had arrived, Draco, Fred and Blaise updated the group on what had happened.

Zara, as was expected was surprised her mother could be Rowena Ravenclaw. While everyone was discussing the new developments and Fred was helping his wife digest it, Severus was deep in thought. He had met the former Slytherin's mother once, slightly before Sirius Black had started his relationship with her. She had been around Hogsmeade for a couple of weeks, rumors getting around that a beautiful woman was roaming and seemed intent on the male students. Black of course had to go and see what was true or not.

It had been their seventh year, and he had ended up running into the woman, who called herself Elizabeth Winter at the time, near the stationary shop. She had looked very young but Severus had always had an odd feeling about her, a feeling seconded oddly enough by James Potter and Lily Evans. Remus Lupin had never met her till after she had her spell woven on Sirius.

He oddly felt sorry for the idiot. Potter had never warmed to his best friend's girlfriend, particularly after she tried to keep Black out of his daughter's life. Lily had full out hated the woman. He could remember many a night where Lily would rant about her, particularly after Zara had been born. He had never known what Lupin had thought of her and Peter probably was too busy with whatever he was doing to care. However this new information brought new light to the situation.

Had Elizabeth Winter been Rowena Ravenclaw? And had Zara been planned rather then an accident like everyone assumed?

She had certainly seemed intent on taking a lover from amongst the older male students of Hogwarts, or from a professor. And for all her charm at that time, she seemed to clam up after a brief affair with Black. In fact, Black almost didn't know about his daughter at all, only finding out when Lily had run into the woman one day. Then had begun the whole fight between them over how much custody of Zara she should have.

Granted, it had become a mute point after Black had been tossed into Azkaban, but having been the head of Zara's house, he knew that mother and daughter had never had a close relationship. He had been surprised to be invited to Zara's wedding, but even more surprised when "Ms. Winter" had arrived only to comment on how her daughter was making a mistake before leaving.

This brought on a slew of questions, mostly about how the hell Rowena Ravenclaw lived that long.

Molly Weasley on the other hand was simply angry. She had met the girl when the twins had first gone to Hogwarts. They had owled home a few weeks before Christmas to ask her if their friend could come home. Apparently Zara had been playing to stay at the castle and would have been the only one from their year who would be there.

She had thought it odd at first that her twins would be hanging out with a Slytherin girl till she found out that the girl had been put in detention with them after she had tried to help them hide the fact they committed one of their pranks from Professor Sinistra.

Zara's mother had apparently tried to distance herself from her daughter. That was all Molly could think since Elizabeth Winter...or Rowena Ravenclaw as it appeared, seemed to want nothing to do with her daughter except what was necessary. After that first Christmas, Zara had been at the Burrow almost as much as her own children had been.

* * *

Zara sat in the chair next to the window of the room she was staying in while she was at Draco's Manor. The window overlooked the back garden and Narcissa Malfoy's former prize winning hydrangeas. She wasn't really paying attention.

Her mother wasn't her favorite person in the world. She wasn't the world's worst mother, but she certainly couldn't be placed in the running for the best. Molly Weasley had been more of a mother to Zara then her own. But all the surprising facts about her family tree seemed a little odd even for her mother.

She actually hadn't spoken to her mother for over two months. She tried to call her once a month, but the recent months had been so busy with the post war clean up that she hadn't had a chance. It was more to be a good daughter then an actual need to talk to her mother. She did love her mother even if the woman annoyed her most of the time.

"You ok?" She turned slightly in her seat to see that Fred had walked into the room. She smiled slightly and went back to staring out of the window. "You don't have to go tomorrow."

"Yes I do. My mother managed to forget to tell me that she was several centuries old, that she played such a major part in the founding of Hogwarts or really anything that I have learned today. Although it does explain why she was irritated that I got sorted into Slytherin."

"You were too sly to be in Ravenclaw," he said with a grin. "The amount of pranks you helped George and I with I think disqualifies you from Ravenclaw at least. You should have been a Gryffindor, in my opinion."

"You always say that," Zara said with a smile. It was a common joke between them. "I think you're still in shock that you married a Slytherin. I know Percy still is."

"Percy married the first girl he got to kiss him," Fred said flopping on the bed. "He expected the rest of us to marry our first loves just like he did."

"Wait, so I'm not your first love," she joked as she made her way to where he was. She flopped down beside him and he turned onto his side so he was looking at her.

"Maybe you were," he said quietly watching her. She looked up at him surprised. He usually didn't get that serious about the joke and she had already assumed that he had loved Angelina. She never doubted that if Angelina hadn't met Arren Montague that things would be greatly different. She'd probably be with Adrian now, instead of him being off on a world tour for a book he wrote pretending to be a muggle. She figured everything worked out for the better. Except for George, who was still alone after Alicia left him for Terrence Higgs. Fred sighed and gathered her to him and hugged her, and she returned the hug, worried.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," he said quietly. "It's just all that has happened lately, I'm really glad your here, and your mine."

"Is this about George?"

"Only partially. Although I have to admit I think he's going to be fine. He seemed to be on good terms with Pansy."

"Interesting. Would never have thought of her and George myself, but now...They probably would work. And he seems to like the children."

"Did he tell you what he found out from Pansy today?"

"No, I was too busy freaking out about my own problems to hear anyone else's."

"The youngest two aren't hers...they are Katie Bell's."

"Katie Bell's? Katie's alive?"

"No, apparently she died soon after the youngest girl's birth. Marcus didn't live much longer."

"Was Katie his prisoner?" Zara couldn't claim to know Marcus Flint very well. He had been a few years older then she and she had more interest in other houses then in her own. However she had heard rumors of Marcus Flint's behavior that were not comforting. She knew better then to assume, given that stories had been made up about her own father.

"No, apparently Katie and Marcus were actually in love with each other. Pansy only married Marcus because they both needed a cover. She needed a reason not to marry Draco Malfoy and he needed a pureblood wife so it didn't look like he was too sympathetic to muggleborns like Katie." Fred paused for a second. "According to George, Pansy and Marcus were planning a divorce as soon as the war was over. Apparently she never quite got over my baby brother and Marcus wanted to marry Katie and raise their family as it should be."

"Pansy's going to continue to raise them?"

"Apparently. She's very stubborn. George claims he almost had to knock her out to get her to leave the manor. Given what's going on he thought it was best if they were here."

"He'd be right. Especially after that explosion at Hermione's. Draco's house is probably the safest place for any of us right now, with how well Lucius charmed and wove spelled into this building." Zara paused and smiled. "Lucius is probably rolling over in his grave at the thought of so many muggleborns and muggle loving purebloods in his home."

"Hermione being the heir of Slytherin must have him spinning."

* * *

Draco Malfoy hated the period after an injury where one had to recuperate. Usually with the aide of magic such times were short, but with the dark magic that been used on him and his wife, it was taking him a longer time then usual to get back to his usual health. So until then he was stuck on his property, attending to reorganizing his businesses and other business. And while he fully enjoyed what he was doing, sometimes he wished he could just pop over somewhere or take his wife and family someplace other then these grounds. Be able to show them off and be proud because they were _his. _

According to Zara, he should be back to full health within the next month or so, and he tried his best not to overwork so she'd be telling the truth. Ginny was a little further behind him, the pregnancy having made it harder for her to heal. However, she was still in the glow of new motherhood so she wasn't noticing it as much as he was.

It wasn't that he didn't love his children, but even their beautiful faces didn't help the urge to just go somewhere. Blaise had commented he was getting cabin fever and he was probably right.

"Draco, will you stop pacing around," his wife commented from the door way. "It's not going to get you anywhere."

"I just wish there was something I could do besides being the keeper of the headquarters."

"There is something you can do, if you think about it," Ginny spoke as she crossed the room. "I didn't bring this up before, but perhaps your father may have had something on why Voldemort was so interested in this guild and the Spencer's in particular."

Draco paused. He hadn't thought about that. He rarely thought of his father as a member of the Death Eaters, preferring the image of his father without the blemish of that whole situation. Not that he was denial. He knew his father had been a Death Eater and unlike Draco had never turned away from it. He just preferred to have the image of how he saw his father rather then how the world had now painted him as a completely evil man.

"I suppose he would, he had a lot of top information. But I don't know where he would keep them. I suppose we could check his private library tomorrow while the others are visiting Ravenclaw."

* * *

A:N: Sorry, but no Blaise/Hermione in this chapter. However there should be some in the next chapter as well as the entrance of Zara's mother.


End file.
